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uncanny: msg#00022

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: uncanny

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The Word of the Day for May 23 is:

uncanny \un-KAN-ee\ adjective
1 : ghostly, mysterious, eerie
*2 : suggesting superhuman or supernatural powers

Example sentence:
Although Pam insists that she doesn't have ESP, she does
have the uncanny ability to guess people's exact birth dates.

Did you know?
"Weird" and "eerie" are synonyms of "uncanny," but there
are subtle differences in the meanings of the three
words. "Weird" may be used to describe something that is
generally strange or out of the ordinary. "Eerie" suggests an
uneasy or fearful consciousness that some kind of mysterious and
malign powers are at work, while "uncanny," which debuted in the
18th century, implies disquieting strangeness or mysteriousness.
English also has a word "canny," but "canny" and "uncanny"
should not be interpreted as opposites. "Canny," which first
appeared in English in the 16th century,
means "clever," "shrewd" or "prudent," as in "a canny lawyer"
or "a canny investment."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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