aberration
noun
Simple meaning
The act of wandering.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aberayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æbɚˈeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of wandering; deviation from truth, moral rectitude; abnormal; divergence from the straight, correct, proper, normal, or from the natural state.
medicine
A deviation of a tissue, organ or mental functions from what is considered to be within the normal range.
A disorder in one's mental state
A mental disorder, especially one of a minor or temporary character.
A partial alienation of reason.
Word at a Glance
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of wandering; deviation from truth, moral rectitude; abnormal; divergence from the straight, correct, proper, normal, or from the natural state.
An 'aberration' is a departure from what is normal or expected, often implying something unusual or undesirable. It’s more formal than simply 'oddity' and often used when discussing patterns or expectations.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where you'll really hear it
News reports
“The unexpected election results were considered an aberration by many experts.”
Science articles
“Scientists observed a slight aberration in the star's usual trajectory.”
Literary criticism
“His kind act was an aberration, considering his normally harsh demeanor.”
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Disorder / mental
Small
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An optical aberration in which the image has colored fringes.
Any change in the normal structure or number of chromosomes.
An optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image.
An optical aberration resulting in a distorted image.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.