exotic

views updated Jun 27 2018

ex·ot·ic / igˈzätik/ • adj. originating in or characteristic of a distant foreign country: exotic birds. ∎  attractive or striking because colorful or out of the ordinary: an exotic outfit [as n.] (the exotic) there was a touch of the exotic in her appearance. ∎  of a kind not used for ordinary purposes or not ordinarily encountered: exotic elementary particles as yet unknown to science.• n. an exotic plant or animal: he planted exotics in the sheltered garden. ∎  a thing that is imported or unusual: the market in exotics has gone crazy with speculators.DERIVATIVES: ex·ot·i·cal·ly / -(ə)lē/ adv.ex·ot·i·cism / igˈzätəˌsizəm/ n.

exotic

views updated May 08 2018

exotic Applied to geological materials derived from an extrabasinal source, e.g. exotic clasts in a conglomerate derived from some distant or extraformational source, or an exotic terrane (i.e. a structurally emplaced allochthonous unit).

exotic

views updated Jun 27 2018

exotic foreign, not indigenous. XVI. — L. exōticus — Gr. exōtikós, f. éxō outside (see EXO-).

exotic

views updated May 29 2018

exotic (ig-zot-ik) adj. describing a disease occurring in a region of the world far from where it might be expected.

exotic

views updated May 23 2018

exotic See alien.