INQUISITIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Inquisitive

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/ɪnkwˈɪzɪtɪv/ Listen

adjective

Inquisitive adj.

Disposed to ask questions, especially in matters which do not concern the inquirer. "A wise man is not inquisitive about things impertinent."

Given to examination, investigation, or research; searching; curious. "A young, inquisitive, and sprightly genius."

Synonyms: Inquiring; prying; curious; meddling; intrusive. Inquisitive, Curious, Prying. Curious denotes a feeling, and inquisitive a habit. We are curious when we desire to learn something new; we are inquisitive when we set ourselves to gain it by inquiry or research. Prying implies inquisitiveness, and is more commonly used in a bad sense, as indicating a desire to penetrate into the secrets of others. "(We) curious are to hear, What happens new." "This folio of four pages (a newspaper), happy work! Which not even critics criticise; that holds Inquisitive attention, while I read." "Nor need we with a prying eye survey The distant skies, to find the Milky Way."

noun

Inquisitive n. A person who is inquisitive; one curious in research.

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Etymology of 'Inquisitive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Inquisitive" Quotes from Famous Books

... information on this interesting topic, I must refer the inquisitive reader to the "Isitsoornot" itself, but in the meantime, I shall be pardoned for giving a summary ...

— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 2 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... exclaimed. "If young missus aint nappin' just so nice! I likes to cotch 'em just so;" and setting her tray upon a stand, she views Franconia intently, and in the exuberance of her feelings seats herself in front of her chair, fanning her with the palmetto. The inquisitive and affectionate nature of the good old slave was here presented in its purity. Nothing can be stronger, nothing show the existence of happy associations more forcibly. The old servant's attachment ...

— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams

... she began gradually to gain a more entire sedateness and self-command. She seemed to examine, with an eager and inquisitive eye, first one object, and then another by turns. The novelty of the whole scene appeared for an instant to engross her attention. Every part of the furniture was unlike that of a shepherd's cot; and completely singular and unprecedented by any thing that her memory could suggest. But this self-deception, ...

— Imogen - A Pastoral Romance • William Godwin

... which its window-eyes look out to the street. A short distance from the church and farther back was the priest's house, set in a bewilderment of trees and vines and shrubbery from which window, chimney, roof, and cornice peep out as if with inquisitive desire to see what manner of ...

— Literary Hearthstones of Dixie • La Salle Corbell Pickett

... what interests me most, and pains me most as well, is to hear that you are separated from Psyche. I do not wish to seem inquisitive on the subject of a—ah—of a man's family affairs"—I hesitated in my speech because he seemed such a baby and it was difficult to take him seriously, as is always the way with Love, unless we are directly involved—"but you have told me of the separation, and as a man, a newspaper-man, ...

— Olympian Nights • John Kendrick Bangs

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