uncanny
/ʌnˈkæni/
uncanny adjective: strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.
Adjective
uncanny (comparative uncannier, superlative uncanniest)
- Strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.
- He bore an uncanny resemblance to the dead sailor.
- An eerie feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 200
- Careless.
Noun
uncanny
- Something that is simultaneously familiar and strange, typically leading to feelings of discomfort.
- This uncontrollable possibility—the possibility of a certain loss of control—can, perhaps, explain why the uncanny remains a marginal notion even within psychoanalysis itself.1982, Samuel Weber, The Legend of Freud, page 20
- As is well known, Freud introduced the concept of the uncanny into psychoanalysis in 1919 and used The Sandman as a prime illustration for his definition.1994, Sonu Shamdasani, Michael Münchow, Speculations after Freud, page 186
uncanny meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Kannada and Punjabi
uncanny in Urdu
- انہونی, اوہام پرست, بھیانک, بھید بھرا, مافوق الفطرت, ناقابل فہم
uncanny in Malayalam
- അപൂർവ്വ, സാമർത്ഥ്യമില്ലാത്ത, ഗ്രഹപ്പിഴയുള്ള
uncanny in Kannada
- ಗುಂಬ, ಗುಟ್ಟಾದ, ಎದ್ದು ಕಾಣುವ, ಎಂದಿನಂತಿಲ್ಲದ, ವಿಲಕ್ಷಣದ, ಅಲೌಕಿಕ
uncanny in Punjabi
- uncanny, eerie, weird
- ਡਰਾਉਣਾ ḍarāuṇā, ਡਰੌਣਾ ḍarauṇā
More languagesFewer languages
- uncanny in Indonesian
- gerun
Examples of uncanny in a sentence
- These men had some uncanny knack of knowing when the steel was right, and like many such things, it just could not be put into a textbook on the subject.1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14:
- These videos also allow us to register through fresh eyes the hyperabundance that exists in our country, and experience just how uncanny some of it really is.2026 July 9, Sophie Haigney, “World Cup Tourists Are Giving Americans Exactly What We Crave”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- In the preceding chapter, we saw that Freud linked the maternal body, death, and the afterlife with the uncanny in his famous essay "The Uncanny" ("Das Unheimliche").2001, Diane Jonte-Pace, Speaking the Unspeakable, page 81:
- The uncanny involves feelings of uncertainty, in particular regarding the reality of who one is and what is being experienced.2003, Nicholas Royle, The Uncanny, page 1:
Forms of uncanny
| comparative | uncannier |
|---|---|
| superlative | uncanniest |
Origin of uncanny
From un- + canny; thus “beyond one's ken,” or outside one's familiar knowledge or perceptions. Compare Middle English unkanne (“unknown”). In the noun sense a translation of Sigmund Freud's usage of German unheimlich (Das Unheimliche, 1919).
Words formed from uncanny
Phrases with uncanny
Words that rhyme with uncanny
Questions about uncanny
- What does uncanny mean?
- Uncanny means strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.
- What is uncanny in Urdu?
- Uncanny in Urdu is انہونی, اوہام پرست, بھیانک. See Uncanny meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use uncanny in a sentence?
- These men had some uncanny knack of knowing when the steel was right, and like many such things, it just could not be put into a textbook on the subject.
- What part of speech is uncanny?
- Uncanny can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce uncanny?
- Uncanny is pronounced /ʌnˈkæni/ (US).
Words near uncanny in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: uncanny (page history and authors); uncanny (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); uncanny (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); uncanny (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਡਰਾਉਣਾ (Punjabi) (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: en-us-uncanny.ogg.
Cite this entry: “uncanny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uncanny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.