anomaly

English

WOTD – 26 September 2008

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin anomalia, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία (anōmalía, “irregularity, anomaly”), from ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “irregular, uneven”), negating the meaning of ὁμαλός (homalós, “even”), from ὁμός (homós, “same”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈnɒməlɪ/
• IPA^(key): /əˈnɑməli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: anom‧aly

Noun

anomaly (plural anomalies)

1. A deviation from a rule or from what is regarded as normal; an outlier.
   • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 43:

     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.

   Synonyms: abnormality, deviance, deviation, exception, inconsistency, irregularity, phenomenon

2. Something or someone that is strange or unusual.

   He is an anomaly among his friends.

3. (sciences) Any event or measurement that is out of the ordinary regardless of whether it is exceptional or not.
4. (astronomy) Any of various angular distances.
5. (biology) A defect or malformation.
6. (quantum mechanics) A failure of a classical symmetry due to quantum corrections.
7. (dated) An irregularity or disproportion.

Synonyms

• (deviation from the norm):

Hyponyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• eccentric anomaly
• flyby anomaly
• mean anomaly
• true anomaly

Derived terms

• anomaloscope
• anomalous

Translations

deviation from norm

• Belarusian: анама́лія f (anamálija), ненарма́льнасьць f (njenarmálʹnasʹcʹ)
• Bulgarian: аномалия (bg) (anomalija)
• Catalan: anomalia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異常／异常 (zh) (yìcháng), 异常 (zh) (yìcháng), 反常 (zh) (fǎncháng)

• Czech: anomálie (cs) f
• Dutch: afwijking (nl), anomalie (nl), abnormaliteit (nl)
• Esperanto: anomalio
• Finnish: anomalia (fi), poikkeavuus (fi) (property), poikkeama (instance)
• French: anomalie (fr) f
• Galician: anomalía f
• Georgian: ანომალია (anomalia)
• German: Anomalie (de) f
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu), rendellenesség (hu), szabálytalanság (hu), eltérés (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Japanese: 例外 (ja) (れいがい, reigai)
• Persian: ناهنجاری (fa) (nâhanjâri)
• Polish: anomalia (pl) f, nieprawidłowość (pl) f
• Portuguese: anomalia (pt) f
• Romanian: anomalie (ro) f
• Russian: анома́лия (ru) f (anomálija), ненорма́льность (ru) f (nenormálʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: anomalía (es) f
• Swedish: avvikelse (sv) c, anomali (sv) c
• Tagalog: anomalya
• Turkish: denksizlik (tr), fevkaladelik (tr), olağandışılık
• Ukrainian: анома́лія (uk) f (anomálija), ненорма́льність f (nenormálʹnistʹ)

something or someone that is strange or unusual

• Bulgarian: неправилност (bg) (nepravilnost)
• Dutch: rariteit (nl), onregelmatigheid (nl)
• Finnish: anomalia (fi), poikkeava (fi), poikkeus (fi)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Portuguese: anomalia (pt) f
• Spanish: anomalía (es) f
• Tagalog: anomalya

science: any event, big or small, out of the ordinary

• Bulgarian: аномалия (bg) (anomalija)
• Dutch: anomalie (nl) f
• Finnish: poikkeama
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu)
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Persian: بی‌هنجاری (bihanjâri), ناهنجاری (fa) (nâhanjâri)
• Polish: anomalia (pl) f, nieprawidłowość (pl) f
• Portuguese: anomalia (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: anomalija (sh) f

astronomy: any of various angular distances

• French: anomalie (fr) f
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Japanese: 離角 (りかく, rikaku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: anomalia (pl) f
• Romanian: anomalie (ro) f

dated: an irregularity or inconsistency

• Dutch: anomalie (nl) f, onregelmatigheid (nl) f
• Finnish: säännöttömyys (fi), epäsäännöllisyys (fi), poikkeus (fi)
• French: anomalie (fr) f
• German: Anomalie (de) f
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Polish: anomalia (pl) f, nieprawidłowość (pl) f
• Portuguese: anomalia (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: anomalija (sh) f
• Swedish: anomali (sv) c, avvikelse (sv) c

biological defect or malformation

• Bulgarian: аномалия (bg) (anomalija)
• Dutch: afwijking (nl), anomalie (nl), misvorming (nl)
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Romanian: anomalie (ro) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} anomali (id), ^{(please verify)} tak normal, ^{(please verify)} tak lazim
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} anomalija (sh) f

Further reading

• “anomaly”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “anomaly”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “anomaly”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.