Word of the Day

Friday April 30, 2010

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aberrant [a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt]

adjective

1. Markedly different from an accepted norm.
2. Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; exceptional; abnormal.

• Judge Jordan said he felt as though Mr. Franklin's crime, which amounted to helping a friend make a fake loan document look legitimate, was "aberrant" and not likely to be repeated.
  Monica Mercer , "Franklin avoids prison in drug case", Chattanooga Times Free Press, May 2, 2009
• Scores from a panel of judges, which includes both industry professionals and knowledgeable amateurs, are averaged to produce the quality score (extremely aberrant scores are discounted).
  Dale Robertson,"April picks from a picky panel", Houston Chronicle, Apr 22, 2009
• If we notice the way in which, in this case, people let a thing go on in order to avoid trouble, we may see how aberrant mores come in and grow strong.
  William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) An American academic and professor at Yale College. Folkways (1906)

Origin of the Word

Aberrant, approximately 1594, derives from Latin aberrationem, from aberrare "go astray," from ab- "away" + errare "to wander".