An inquisitive person is one who is bent on finding out all that can be found out by inquiry, especially of little and personal matters, and hence is generally meddlesome and prying. Inquisitive may be used in a good sense, tho in such connection inquiring is to be preferred; as, an inquiring mind.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

wondering The news left me wondering what would happen next.
curious He is curious about how she will receive the news.
questioning Experts began questioning the project's viability.
speculative This caused a huge speculative bubble in Algeria.
intrusive Miroslav apologized for being intrusive at the beginning.
meddlesome She's a meddlesome old gossip.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
inquisitive		rising
wondering		rising
curious		rising
questioning		rising
speculative		steady
intrusive		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: agog²
5 letters: agape²
6 letters: prying²
7 letters: curious³
8 letters: meddling³
9 letters: wondering³, searching², intrusive³, inquiring⁴, enquiring
10 letters: meddlesome³
11 letters: questioning³, speculative⁴, acquisitive⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (agog² = 2 syllables).