Uncanny

//ʌnˈkæni// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    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."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.

    "He bore an uncanny resemblance to the dead sailor."

  2. 2
    Careless. UK, dialectal
Adjective
  1. 1
    suggesting the operation of supernatural influences wordnet
  2. 2
    surpassing the ordinary or normal wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
unearthlyaberrantalienarcaneawe inspiringawe-inspiring

Example

More examples

"She bears an uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Monroe."

Etymology

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).

Related phrases

uncanny valley

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.