as in abnormal
departing from some accepted standard of what is normal
some studies show that many violent criminals begin exhibiting deviant behavior in early childhood
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in maverick
a person who does not conform to generally accepted standards or customs
branded as social deviants by a society that did not value self-expression
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deviant
Christopher R. Browning, The New York Review of Books, 1 Dec. 2022
The Florida bill’s opponents are worried about a world in which teachers have no meaningful way to discuss the real world inhabited by their students, which risks leaving students with the impression that non-straight or non-gender-conforming individuals are somehow deviant.
—Washington Post, 12 Apr. 2022
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Jan. 2025
While reports from the Office of Justice Programs do suggest that children of criminals and abusers are more likely to exhibit deviant behavior, there are always exceptions.
—Mark Travers, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deviant
Adjective
Jähner does not comment on no one seeming to have drawn the lesson that the anti-Semitic stereotype of dishonest and deviant economic behavior that Germans had long identified as a Jewish racial characteristic had turned out to be situationally, not racially, caused.
—Christopher R. Browning, The New York Review of Books, 1 Dec. 2022
The Florida bill’s opponents are worried about a world in which teachers have no meaningful way to discuss the real world inhabited by their students, which risks leaving students with the impression that non-straight or non-gender-conforming individuals are somehow deviant.
—Washington Post, 12 Apr. 2022
Noun
The deviants trying to lure them into statutory rape, however, were real.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Jan. 2025
While reports from the Office of Justice Programs do suggest that children of criminals and abusers are more likely to exhibit deviant behavior, there are always exceptions.
—Mark Travers, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deviant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deviant
Adjective
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According to investigators, the medical records showed that an amphetamine urine screen was abnormal and presumptive positive.—
Staff report,
Hartford Courant,
8 June 2025
-
Researchers have also observed that women in certain agricultural communities experience higher rates of abnormal menstrual cycles, compared to places with fewer farms.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
5 June 2025
Noun
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Your Ability To Work Within A Structured System Franchising isn’t necessarily for the maverick who is looking to reinvent themselves and their passion.—
Seth Lederman,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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Think of Ait-Nouri as a Joao Cancelo type full-back; a maverick in possession, inventive, good in tight spaces, and able to play in the pockets or out wide in a flexible Pep Guardiola team.—
David Ornstein,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
Adjective
-
While there are certainly products that can be used across different hair textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, colors (natural and unnatural), and needs, hair products are often created with specific consumers in mind.—
Annie Blackman,
Allure,
31 May 2025
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Concurrently, fire exclusion policies aimed to protect young stands but inadvertently led to unnatural fuel accumulation beneath regenerating trees.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
24 May 2025
Noun
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There are dozens upon dozens of memorable eccentrics, delusional antiheroes, blustery authority figures, sad sacks, screw-ups and all-too-lovable schmucks that populate the 12 feature films and handful of shorts directed by Wes Anderson.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
28 May 2025
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To take her mind off him, Agathe meets an Austen-like family of eccentrics running the retreat and the sometimes pretentious writers attending it.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
22 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deviant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deviant. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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