- an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible
- an unexpected twist or turn: a quirk of fate
- a continuous groove in an architectural moulding
- a flourish, as in handwriting
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
quirk /kwɜrk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- an odd habit, trait, or example of behavior:He had this quirk of suddenly turning his back on the person he was talking to.
- an accident;
vagary:a cruel quirk of fate.
quirk
(kwûrk),USA pronunciation n.
adj.
- a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality;
mannerism:He is full of strange quirks. - a shift, subterfuge, or evasion;
quibble. - a sudden twist or turn:He lost his money by a quirk of fate.
- a flourish or showy stroke, as in writing.
- Architecture
- an acute angle or channel, as one dividing two parts of a molding or one dividing a flush bead from the adjoining surfaces.
- an area taken from a larger area, as a room or a plot of ground.
- an enclosure for this area.
- [Obs.]a clever or witty remark;
quip.
adj.
- Architectureformed with a quirk or channel, as a molding.
- origin, originally uncertain 1540–50
- 1. . See eccentricity.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
quirk /kwɜːk/ n
'quirk' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
idiosyncrasy
- individualism
- kink
- crotchet
- eccentricity
- fancy
- foible
- freak
- joke
- quirky
- thing
- tic
- vagary
- warp