Definition of deviance
: deviant quality, state, or behavior
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Recent Examples of deviance from the Web
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Gender traitors and rebels are hanged on the wall, a continual threat that any deviance from Gilead will not be tolerated.
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She's made to watch a weird short film about deviance, which happens to star Moose and Kevin as two young men who forgo socializing with women to spend time alone together.
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The film’s deviance amounts to little more than a few campy in-jokes: when the villain breaks into Ana and Christian's penthouse, a member of their security detail pins him down and laments her lack of restraints.
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Reed combined literary aspirations with a fearless eye for deviance and, by extension, a staunch defense of freedom of expression.
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In a typical Hollywood movie, important architecture, especially important modern architecture, would be a symbol of big-city sophistication (or even, as documentarian Thom Andersen and others have pointed out, of deviance or criminality).
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A barricade of deviance and grit kept much of the straight world out, protecting the neighborhood’s unconventional character.
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In places like John Calvin’s Geneva, efforts to enforce moral discipline ranged from the obvious (punishing sexual deviance) to the odd (making bibles available at pubs to encourage spiritual reflection).
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Her latest veers more toward the comic camp, exploring raunchy proclivities and unbelievable deviances in a trailer park of the near future.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'deviance.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of deviance
1941
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Learn More about deviance
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Britannica English: Translation of deviance for Arabic speakers
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