anomaly
A deviation from a rule or from what is regarded as normal; an outlier.
Other meanings
Something or someone that is strange or unusual.
“He is an anomaly among his friends in that he's the only one who's unmarried.”
Any event or measurement that is out of the ordinary regardless of whether it is exceptional or not.
“She disregarded some of the anomalies in the experiment, putting them down to miscalculation.”
Related words
- isanomaly
- stereoanomaly
- Chediak-Higashi anomaly
- anomalism
- anomalistic
- anomaloscope
- anomalous
- collie eye anomaly
- deuteranomaly
- eccentric anomaly
- flyby anomaly
- mean anomaly
Word history
From Ancient Greek "ἀνωμαλία" (irregularity, anomaly).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “anomaly” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.