as in nuts
a person of odd or whimsical habits
an eccentric who designed his house to look like a Scottish castle
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Recent Examples of eccentrics
The town’s overflowing with charming Midwest eccentrics, including a cocky mayor (Henry Winkler) and a welcoming barkeep (Lena Headey).
—
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026
Those crazy, diverse individuals, that tribe of oddballs and eccentrics, dreamers, and gamblers who make up this business.
—Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 14 Apr. 2026
On her trail are a Báthory relative who is vegetarian (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists, a police inspector and a gallery of eccentrics.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026
Catherine O’Hara portrayed ridiculous eccentrics with equal parts hilarity and humanity.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 10 Feb. 2026
Greg Brown, the original guitarist and co-founding member of ’90s alt-rock eccentrics Cake, has died.
—Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 9 Feb. 2026
On his mother’s side, a line of troubled souls and eccentrics.
—Maya Singer, Vogue, 1 Feb. 2026
The logger and railsplitter occasionally encounters American eccentrics, like a chatty drifter prone to sporting bible verses and an old coot of a demolitions expert with a philosophical bent.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 23 Nov. 2025
Appealing to consumers searching for a piece of history, the store has gained a following of visitors hunting for unique souvenirs, designers on inspiration trips and local eccentrics.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 24 Oct. 2025
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026
Those crazy, diverse individuals, that tribe of oddballs and eccentrics, dreamers, and gamblers who make up this business.
—Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 14 Apr. 2026
On her trail are a Báthory relative who is vegetarian (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists, a police inspector and a gallery of eccentrics.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026
Catherine O’Hara portrayed ridiculous eccentrics with equal parts hilarity and humanity.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 10 Feb. 2026
Greg Brown, the original guitarist and co-founding member of ’90s alt-rock eccentrics Cake, has died.
—Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 9 Feb. 2026
On his mother’s side, a line of troubled souls and eccentrics.
—Maya Singer, Vogue, 1 Feb. 2026
The logger and railsplitter occasionally encounters American eccentrics, like a chatty drifter prone to sporting bible verses and an old coot of a demolitions expert with a philosophical bent.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 23 Nov. 2025
Appealing to consumers searching for a piece of history, the store has gained a following of visitors hunting for unique souvenirs, designers on inspiration trips and local eccentrics.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 24 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for eccentrics
Noun
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There was no overpowering onion, which drives me nuts in potato salad.—
Michael Deeds,
Idaho Statesman,
27 Apr. 2026
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Everything is coated in a garlic butter salt that masks the mediocrity of the nuts.—
Alex Beggs,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But fights are just as integral to the Netflix show created by Lee Sung Jin, and the series’ sound team needed to do even more meticulous work building visceral senses of anger, stress, and dread that slowly swallow up the characters and steer them into making a compounding set of poor decisions.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
24 Apr. 2026
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Apex, which primarily consists of its two main characters chasing each other around the fictional Wandarra National Park on location in the real Australian Blue Mountains, is more focused in action than in psychological nuance.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But the scenes she’s devised for these sympathetically difficult oddballs go nowhere.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
-
All the sun’s planets are oddballs.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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As Wilde said, there’s room for both originals and franchises.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Earlier this month, two Movistar Plus+ originals – Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ‘The Beloved,’ starring Javier Bardem, and ‘La Bola Negra,’ with Penélope Cruz, directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – were selected for main competition at the Cannes Festival.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In any case, the TM-B defining feature is the software that sits between the cranks and the motor, shaping the whole cycling experience.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
16 Apr. 2026
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The Republican Party embraced neoconservatism; Buchanan and his cohort were the stewards of an ideology for cranks.—
Antonia Hitchens,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Surrounded by a delightful cast of weirdos — with a scene-stealing, hilarious turn by Marc Maron as sleazy director Sam Sylvia — GLOW is a comedy match-up worth cheering for.—
Andrew Walsh,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Apr. 2026
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About watching a movie that isn’t trying to be great, but is trying to do something, anything, to entertain weirdos like you.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The confluence at Black Mountain of émigré artists like Josef and Anni Albers with homegrown mavericks like John Cage and Buckminster Fuller (who constructed his first geodesic dome there) marked an early flowering of this mode of learning, which was still in fine health decades later.—
Christopher Benfey,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Apr. 2026
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Garcia, who plays cartel boss Gallino in the second season of the Paramount+ show, praised Sheridan as one of Hollywood's true mavericks.—
Lauryn Overhultz , Larry Fink,
FOXNews.com,
1 Dec. 2025
Noun
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O’Hara worked consistently across her 50-year career in both film and television, best known for playing beloved kooks and amiable wackos, though her range was boundless.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
30 Jan. 2026
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What so many of these talking heads have in common—legitimate experts, well-meaning journalists, and kooks alike—is how costly their recommendations are.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
3 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Eccentrics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eccentrics. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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