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Oddball

//ˈɑːdˌbɔl// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective

1
Exotic, not mainstream. not-comparable
"An oddball word processor, for example, might never be supported by such helpful tools as spelling checkers, indexing programs, footnote utilities,..."

Noun

1
An eccentric or unusual person.
"Miss Quinn thought that Oswald spoke Russian well in view of his lack of formal training; she found the evening uninteresting. Donovan, with whom she had a date later, testified that she told him that Oswald was “kind of an oddball.”"
2
a person with an unusual or odd personality wordnet
3
A deviant stimulus that appears among repetitive stimuli during an experiment, to trigger an event-related potential in the participant.

Etymology

Etymology 1

Compound of odd + ball. First used in late 1930s, describing an extra ball played as a bonus in pin-ball type games. Well-attested since the 1940s, with the adjective appearing earlier than the noun.

Etymology 2

Compound of odd + ball. First used in late 1930s, describing an extra ball played as a bonus in pin-ball type games. Well-attested since the 1940s, with the adjective appearing earlier than the noun.

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