Heteroclite

//ˈhɛtəɹəʊklaɪt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An irregularly declined or inflected word.
  2. 2
    A word whose etymological roots come from distinct, different languages or language groups.
  3. 3
    A person who is unconventional; a maverick.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Irregularly declined or inflected.
  2. 2
    Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric, abnormal. dated

    "he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, […] as heteroclite a creature in all his declensions; […] with as much life and whim, and gaité de cœur about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together."

Synonyms

All synonyms
aberrantaberrantabnormalalienamorphousanomalous

Example

More examples

"he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, […] as heteroclite a creature in all his declensions; […] with as much life and whim, and gaité de cœur about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together."

Etymology

From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.

More for "heteroclite"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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