anomaly
English
WOTD – 26 September 2008
Etymology
From Latin anomalia, from Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία (anōmalía, “irregularity, anomaly”), from ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “irregular, uneven”), negating the meaning of ὁμαλός (homalós, “even”), from ὁμός (homós, “same”).
Pronunciation
Noun
anomaly (plural anomalies)
- A deviation from a rule or from what is regarded as normal; an outlier.
- 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 43:
- This ardent exploration, absorbing all his energy and interest, made him forget for the moment the mystery of his heritage and the anomaly that cut him off from all his fellows.
- Synonyms: abnormality, deviance, deviation, exception, inconsistency, irregularity, phenomenon
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- Something or someone that is strange or unusual.
- He is an anomaly among his friends.
- (sciences) Any event or measurement that is out of the ordinary regardless of whether it is exceptional or not.
- (astronomy) Any of various angular distances.
- (biology) A defect or malformation.
- (quantum mechanics) A failure of a classical symmetry due to quantum corrections.
- (dated) An irregularity or disproportion.
Synonyms
- (deviation from the norm):
Hyponyms
- The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the templates
{{syn|en|...}}
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to add them to the appropriate sense(s).
- eccentric anomaly
- flyby anomaly
- mean anomaly
- true anomaly
Derived terms
Translations
deviation from norm
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something or someone that is strange or unusual
science: any event, big or small, out of the ordinary
astronomy: any of various angular distances
dated: an irregularity or inconsistency
biological defect or malformation
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Further reading
- anomaly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- anomaly in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- anomaly at OneLook Dictionary Search
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