Definition of aberrant
aberrantly
adverbFrom the M-W Editors
Examples of aberrant in a Sentence
The stones, silvered in the moon's aberrant light, shone like spectral tombs, and the figures, which Dalgliesh knew were Helena, Lettie and the Bostocks, became discarnate shapes disappearing into the darkness. —P. D. James, The Private Patient, 2008
… as if he had happily spied an aberrant crocus amid the wintry gray scene of Presidential impeachment. —Francis X. Clines, New York Times, 8 Jan. 1999
… at the brief and aberrant moment in time when it was possible to believe that America owed its great place in the world to its military and moral virtue rather than to the weight of its currency. —Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, March 1992
a year of aberrant weather—record rainfall in the summer, record heat in the autumn
aberrant behavior can be a sign of rabies in a wild animal
Recent Examples of aberrant from the Web
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An electrophysiologist placed tiny burn marks directly into the electrical system of the heart itself, permanently interrupting the aberrant electrical impulses caused by previous heart damage.
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The company, which does not want to be identified, finally got wise to the spying scheme thanks to Darktrace, a global cybersecurity company that uses artificial intelligence to detect aberrant activity on client networks.
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To learn more, Tessmar-Raible and her colleagues kept bristle worms in plastic boxes, feeding them spinach and fish food, and simulating typical and aberrant moon cycles with an array of standard light bulbs and LEDs.
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Absent those groups, attacks like the one on Westminster Bridge or at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub might more easily be treated as aberrant individual actions in the way that the attack on Muslims in London will be treated in some quarters.
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Trey Davis: Dad's aberrant behavior has been in -- in the past has been chronicled quite extensively.
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That Rousso had apparently become ensnared in the deportation scheme of an aberrant government seemed the sort of spiralling historical irony that Rousso himself might have enjoyed analyzing.
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Most had died from injury or disease associated with their captive conditions: foot and joint disease, reproductive disorders, infertility, aberrant behaviors such as infanticide.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aberrant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Something aberrant has wandered away from the usual path or form. The word is generally used in a negative way; aberrant behavior, for example, may be a symptom of other problems. But the discovery of an aberrant variety of a species can be exciting news to a biologist, and identifying an aberrant gene has led the way to new treatments for diseases.
Definition of aberrant
1 : a group, individual, or structure that is not normal or typical : an aberrant group, individual, or structure
2 : a person whose behavior departs substantially from the standard
Origin and Etymology of aberrant
noun derivative of 1aberrant
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about aberrant
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See words that rhyme with aberrant Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for aberrant Spanish Central: Translation of aberrant Nglish: Translation of aberrant for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of aberrant for Arabic speakers
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