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unheimlich. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
unheimlich, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
unheimlich in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
unheimlich you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from German unheimlich.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʊnˈhaɪmlɪx/, /ʊnˈhaɪmlɪk/ (or as German, below)
Adjective
unheimlich (comparative more unheimlich, superlative most unheimlich)
- Weird, uncanny.
- 1936, Isiah Berlin, letter, 3 Jun 1936:
- My point is that there is no grand single line, everything is in bits, & often absolutely dead, & always very unheimlich, almost macabre.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 272:Werfner, damn him, keen-witted but unheimlich, is obsessed with railway lines
2009, Søren Kirkegaard, translated by MG Piety, Repetition, Oxford, page 33:The music rings throughout the hall, somewhat unheimlich, given that the place is so empty.
German
Etymology
From Middle High German unheimlich, from Old High German *unheimlīh, equivalent to un- + heimlich (“familiar”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʊnˌhaɪ̯m.lɪç/, /ˌʊnˈhaɪ̯m.lɪç/
- Hyphenation: un‧heim‧lich
Adjective
unheimlich (strong nominative masculine singular unheimlicher, comparative unheimlicher, superlative am unheimlichsten)
- uncanny
- creepy, eerie
- incredible
- (colloquial) large; (intensifier) very in an overbearing way
1995, Christian Kracht, “Fünf”, in Faserland, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, published 2020, →ISBN:Die Leute sind alle unheimlich freundlich zu mir, obwohl ich, wie gesagt, absolut niemand kenne.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Declension
Positive forms of unheimlich
Comparative forms of unheimlich
Superlative forms of unheimlich
Further reading