anomaly

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: a=nom=a=ly

CIDE DICTIONARY

anomaly, n. [L. anomalia, Gr. . See Anomalous.].

•  Deviation from the common rule; an irregularity; anything anomalous.  [1913 Webster]

  "We are enabled to unite into a consistent whole the various anomalies and contending principles that are found in the minds and affairs of men."  [1913 Webster]

  "As Professor Owen has remarked, there is no greater anomaly in nature than a bird that can not fly."  [1913 Webster]
•  The angular distance of a planet from its perihelion, as seen from the sun. This is the true anomaly. The eccentric anomaly is a corresponding angle at the center of the elliptic orbit of the planet. The mean anomaly is what the anomaly would be if the planet's angular motion were uniform.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any deviation from the essential characteristics of a specific type.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

anomaly, n. (pl. -ies)
1 an anomalous circumstance or thing; an irregularity.
2 irregularity of motion, behaviour, etc.
3 Astron. the angular distance of a planet or satellite from its last perihelion or perigee.

Etymology

L f. Gk anomalia f. anomalos ANOMALOUS

THESAURUS

anomaly

aberrance, aberrancy, aberration, abnormality, abnormity, amorphism, anomalism, anomalousness, conceit, conversation piece, crackpotism, crank, crankiness, crankism, crosspatch, crotchet, crotchetiness, curio, curiosity, derangement, deviancy, deviation, difference, differentness, divergence, dottiness, eccentricity, erraticism, erraticness, exception, freak, freakiness, freakishness, heteromorphism, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, improbability, impropriety, inadmissibility, inapplicability, inappositeness, inappropriateness, inaptitude, inaptness, individualist, infelicity, inferiority, inner-directed person, irregularity, irrelevance, irrelevancy, kink, maggot, maladjustment, mannerism, mesalliance, misalliance, misfit, misjoinder, misjoining, mismatch, monstrosity, museum piece, naysayer, nonconformist, nonconformity, nonesuch, oddball, oddity, peculiarity, prodigiosity, prodigy, queerness, quip, quirk, quirkiness, rarity, singularity, sport, strange thing, strangeness, subnormality, superiority, teratism, trick, twist, uncongeniality, unconventionality, unfitness, unnaturalism, unnaturalness, unsuitability, whim, whimsicality, whimsy

ROGET THESAURUS

anomaly

Disorder

N disorder, derangement, irregularity, anomaly, anarchy, anarchism, want of method, untidiness, disunion, discord, confusion, confusedness, mishmash, mix, disarray, jumble, huddle, litter, lumber, cahotage, farrago, mess, mash, muddle, muss, hash, hodgepodge, hotch-potch, hotch-pot, imbroglio, chaos, omnium gatherum, medley, mere mixture, fortuitous concourse of atoms, disjecta membra, rudis indigestaque moles, complexity, turmoil, ferment, to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble, whirlwind, bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors, Bedlam, all hell broke loose, bull in a china shop, all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay, pretty kettle of fish, pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business, disorderly person, disorderly persons offence, misdemeanor, slattern, slut (libertine), disorderly, orderless, out of order, out of place, out of gear, irregular, desultory, anomalous, acephalous, deranged, aimless, disorganized, straggling, unmethodical, immethodical, unsymmetric, unsystematic, untidy, slovenly, dislocated, out of sorts, promiscuous, indiscriminate, chaotic, anarchical, unarranged &c (arrange), confused, deranged, topsy-turvy, shapeless, disjointed, out of joint, troublous, riotous, complex, irregularly, by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts, pellmell, higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, in a ferment, at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes, upside down, the cart before the horse, hysteron proteron, chaos is come again, the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.