aberrant
uh-BER-uhnt
/æˈberənt/
Departing from an accepted standard, normal biological type, or expected moral path.
Carries a technical, clinical, or problematic sense of straying away from correctness.
The story behind the word. Formed from Latin 'aberrant-' meaning 'wandering away'. The root 'errare' also gives us English 'error' and 'errand'. Literally, aberrant behavior is behavior that has wandered far away from the true road or proper trail.
Word relationships
- deviant: Deviant carries heavier moral judgment, while aberrant is often biological or technical.
- normal: Normal indicates conformity to natural biological or statistical standards.
Commonly confused with
- abhorrent: Abhorrent means inspiring disgust and hatred; aberrant means straying from normal standards.
Word family
- aberration (noun): A departure from what is normal or expected.
- aberrantly (adverb): In a manner that strays from the norm.
Collocations
- aberrant behavior
- aberrant cells
- aberrant signal
- aberrant psychology
Example sentences
- "The laboratory reported aberrant cell growth following exposure to heavy radiation." Scientific medical report
Memory hook
AB-ERR-ant = WANDERING away into an ERROR. Wandering off the true trail.
When not to use
Avoid for fun, playful, or charming human quirks; aberrant implies a disturbing or defective deviation.
Fun facts
- In optics, 'chromatic aberration' occurs when a camera lens fails to focus all colors to the same convergence point.
Explore more words
deviation, degenerate, transgress, unorthodox, malfunction, propriety
Also appears in
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