From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisheccentricec‧cen‧tric1 /ɪkˈsentrɪk/ ●○○ adjective 1 STRANGEbehaving in a way that is unusual and different from most people His eccentric behaviour lost him his job. Aunt Nessy was always a bit eccentric.► see thesaurus at strange, unusual2 technicalHM eccentric circles do not have the same centre point → concentric —eccentrically /-kli/ adverb
Examples from the Corpus
eccentric• Master of the striking Southern image, Carville had some of the same eccentric appeal for reporters as did Ross Perot.• Mr. Withers is a little eccentric, but he's basically harmless.• He wondered how could he remember such eccentric fragments?• Probable sad answer: cling to it as part of Britain's eccentric genius.• That's why you carefully cultivate eccentric habits to set you apart from others.• an eccentric millionaire• Our neighbour is an eccentric old lady who has about 25 cats.• They walked slowly along one wall, laughing and talking and only incidentally looking at the eccentric pictures.• The kidnapper met twice with an eccentric representative of the Lindberghs.• Madame Arcati was springing on to tables, falling backwards off stools and dancing eccentric tangos.eccentriceccentric2 noun [countable] MPSTRANGEsomeone who behaves in a way that is different from what is usual or socially accepted I was regarded as something of an eccentric.Examples from the Corpus
eccentric• Many of Dr. Brook's colleagues consider him an eccentric.• Hill had established himself as a local hero and also as something of an eccentric.• The Smiths were cast as eccentrics ... which they are.• Pet Heaven was full of rather endearing eccentrics.• There was never a time when any more than a handful of eccentrics advocated the establishment of a separate black nation-state.• They evoke romantic images of humming orchard hives and summer sweetness, presided over by veiled eccentrics steeped in arcane lore.Origin eccentric1 (1500-1600) Late Latin eccentricus, from Greek ekkentros “out of the center” 