abnormal
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Not normal; not typical or usual or regular or conforming to a norm.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
abnawrmuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æbˈnɔɹməl
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.
adjective
Not normal; not typical or usual or regular or conforming to a norm
Not conforming to rule or system; deviating from the usual or normal type.
Of or pertaining to that which is irregular, in particular, behaviour that deviates from norms of social propriety or accepted standards of mental health.
noun
A person or object that is not normal.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not normal; not typical or usual or regular or conforming to a norm
'Abnormal' implies a deviation from what's expected or typical, sometimes with a negative connotation, like 'unnatural.' It's stronger than just 'unusual' and can suggest a problem or a concern.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where you'll really hear it
Doctor's notes
“The test results showed some abnormal cell growth.”
Science class
“An abnormal change in temperature affected the experiment.”
News report
“Police reported an abnormal surge in traffic during the storm.”
Nearby words
- aberrant , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use abnormal
- “They were heartbroken when they learned their child was abnormal.”adjective
- “Abnormal powers of concentration.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Pertaining
Departing
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Not conforming to the normal type.
Differing from the norm.
Very normal, average.
Less than normal.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The branch of psychology concerned with abnormal behavior.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
An abnormal physical condition resulting from defective genes or developmental deficiencies.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.