anomaly

English

WOTD – 26 September 2008

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈnɒm.ə.lɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈnɑ.mə.li/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /əˈnɔm.ə.lɪ/

  • 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.

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

   • 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.

2. 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.

3. (sciences) 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.

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):

Derived terms

• anomalism
• anomalistic
• anomaloscope
• anomalous
• collie eye anomaly
• deuteranomaly
• eccentric anomaly
• flyby anomaly
• mean anomaly
• Schottky anomaly
• true anomaly
• quantum anomaly

Translations

deviation from norm

• Arabic: شُذُوذ m (šuḏūḏ)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: анама́лія f (anamálija), ненарма́льнасьць f (njenarmálʹnasʹcʹ)
• Bulgarian: аномалия (bg) (anomalija)
• Catalan: anomalia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異常／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 (fi), poikkeus (fi) (instance)
• French: anomalie (fr) f
• Galician: anomalía (gl) f
• Georgian: ანომალია (anomalia)
• German: Anomalie (de) f
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• Hindi: असंगति (hi) (asaṅgti)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu), rendellenesség (hu), szabálytalanság (hu), eltérés (hu)
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Japanese: 例外 (ja) (れいがい, reigai)
• Kazakh: ауытқушылық (auytquşylyq)
• Korean: 예외(例外) (ko) (ye'oe)
• Malayalam: വ്യതിചലനം (ml) (vyaticalanaṁ)
• 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
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: denksizlik (tr), fevkaladelik (tr), olağandışılık
• Ukrainian: анома́лія (uk) f (anomálija), ненорма́льність f (nenormálʹnistʹ)
• Vietnamese: sự bất thường

something or someone that is strange or unusual

• Arabic: شُذُوذ m (šuḏūḏ)
• Bulgarian: неправилност (bg) (nepravilnost)
• Dutch: rariteit (nl), onregelmatigheid (nl)
• Finnish: anomalia (fi), poikkeava (fi), poikkeus (fi)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu)
• 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 (fi)
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• Hungarian: anomália (hu)
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Persian: بی‌هنجاری (bi-hanjâri), 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

• Finnish: anomalia (fi)
• French: anomalie (fr) f
• Hindi: कोणिकांतर (koṇikāntar)
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Japanese: 離角 (りかく, rikaku)
• Polish: anomalia (pl) f
• Romanian: anomalie (ro) f

dated: an irregularity or inconsistency

• Arabic: شُذُوذ m (šuḏūḏ)
• 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)
• 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

• Arabic: عَيْب خِلْقِيّ m (ʕayb ḵilqiyy)
• Bulgarian: аномалия (bg) (anomalija)
• Dutch: afwijking (nl), anomalie (nl), misvorming (nl)
• Finnish: epämuodostuma (fi)
• Greek: ανωμαλία (el) f (anomalía)
• Irish: aimhrialtacht f
• Italian: anomalia (it) f
• Romanian: anomalie (ro) f
• Tagalog: anomalya

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
• 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.