Word.ws English Dictionary

curiosity killed the cat

/kjʊə.ɹiˈɒs.ɪ.ti kɪld ðə ˈkæt//ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti kɪld ðə ˈkæt/

curiosity killed the cat proverb: one should not be curious about things that can be dangerous.

curiosity killed the cat: one should not be curious about things that can be dangerous
Image: mwri on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Proverb

curiosity killed the cat

  1. One should not be curious about things that can be dangerous.
    • They say curiosity killed a cat once, so I will take warning and let things remain as they are.1868 October 28, “Aunt Hetty’s Stratagem”, in Waterford Mirror & Tramore Visiter, Waterford, Munster: […] John S. Palmer, […], →OCLC, page [4], column 3
    • When one interviewer asks why she [Anita O’Day] started using it [heroin], she replies facetiously, “Curiosity killed the cat,” then flashes a toothy smile.2008 August 15, Stephen Holden, “Fraught Life of a Cast-Iron Songstress”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 May 2014

curiosity killed the cat meaning in Hindi, Tagalog and Arabic

curiosity killed the cat in Hindi

undue curiosity is dangerous
आ बैल मुझे मार ā bail mujhe mār

curiosity killed the cat in Tagalog

undue curiosity is dangerous
ang sobra-sobrang pag-usisa ay delikado

curiosity killed the cat in Arabic

undue curiosity is dangerous
الْفُضُولُ قَتَلَ الْقِطَّ al-fuḍūlu qatala l-qiṭṭa

Examples of curiosity killed the cat in a sentence

  • Perhaps this is a case where curiosity killed the cat.”2014 July 3, Ian Sample, “Shocking but true: students prefer jolt of pain than being made to sit and think”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor...
  • Curiosity killed the cat — and it got the best of these bears.2021 May 24, “Cute bear cub scared off by family dog”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC:

Synonyms of curiosity killed the cat

Forms of curiosity killed the cat

alternative formcuriosity killed a cat
alternative formcuriosity kills the cat

Origin of curiosity killed the cat

Compare earlier care killed the cat. Referring to the statement that it will kill anyone, even though they had, like the proverbial cat, nine lives.

Questions about curiosity killed the cat

What does curiosity killed the cat mean?
Curiosity killed the cat means one should not be curious about things that can be dangerous.
What is curiosity killed the cat in Hindi?
Curiosity killed the cat in Hindi is आ बैल मुझे मार (ā bail mujhe mār). See Curiosity killed the cat meaning in Hindi.
How do you use curiosity killed the cat in a sentence?
Perhaps this is a case where curiosity killed the cat.”
What part of speech is curiosity killed the cat?
Curiosity killed the cat is a proverb.
How do you pronounce curiosity killed the cat?
Curiosity killed the cat is pronounced /kjʊə.ɹiˈɒs.ɪ.ti kɪld ðə ˈkæt/ (UK).

Words near curiosity killed the cat in the dictionary

  1. curiosa
  2. curiositie
  3. curiosities
  4. curiosity
  5. curiosity killed a cat
  6. curiosity killed the cat
  7. curiosity kills the cat
  8. curiositye
  9. curioso
  10. curiosum
  11. curious

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: curiosity killed the cat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-curiosity killed the cat.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-curiosity killed the cat.wav.

Cite this entry: “curiosity killed the cat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/curiosity_killed_the_cat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.