Aberrant

//əˈbɛɹ.ənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person or object that deviates from the rest of a group.
  2. 2
    one whose behavior departs substantially from the norm of a group wordnet
  3. 3
    A group, individual, or structure that deviates from the usual or natural type, especially with an atypical chromosome number.

    "Also I think other birders realise you are struggling a bit when you start talking about aberrants[.]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Differing from the norm.
  2. 2
    Straying from the right way; deviating from morality or truth. figuratively, sometimes
  3. 3
    Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; exceptional; abnormal.

    "The more aberrant any form is, the greater must have been the number of connecting forms which, on my theory, have been exterminated."

Adjective
  1. 1
    markedly different from an accepted norm wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
devianterrantaberationalaberraticaberrativeabnormal

Example

More examples

"Only individuals with an aberrant temperament can in the long run retain their self-esteem in the face of the disesteem of their fellows."

Etymology

From Latin aberrāns, present active participle of aberrō (“go astray; err”), from ab (“from”) + errō (“to wander”). See aberr.

Related phrases

aberrant conductionaberrant salience

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