Anomaly
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A deviation from a rule or from what is regarded as normal; an outlier.
"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."
- 2 (astronomy) position of a planet as defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun) wordnet
- 3 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."
- 4 a person who is unusual wordnet
- 5 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."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule wordnet
- 7 Any of various angular distances.
- 8 A defect or malformation.
- 9 A failure of a classical symmetry due to quantum corrections.
- 10 An irregularity or disproportion. dated
Example
More examples"An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction."
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”).
Related phrases
More for "anomaly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.