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
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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
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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
Jen Cole Wright, The Conversation, 14 Apr. 2025
The deviants trying to lure them into statutory rape, however, were real.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Jan. 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
In this case, people take active steps to squelch what feels unfair, inappropriate, bad or deviant.
—Jen Cole Wright, The Conversation, 14 Apr. 2025
The deviants trying to lure them into statutory rape, however, were real.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deviant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deviant
Adjective
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Mice studies suggest that activating these receptors may cut off oxygen supply to the retina, promoting the abnormal blood vessel growth that leads to nAMD.—
Claire Bugos,
Verywell Health,
20 June 2025
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Alzheimer’s Disease is characterized by the presence of beta-amyloid, an abnormal substance which form sticky plaques on the brain which may result in death of brain cells.—
Robert Glatter,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
Noun
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Alvarez has been described as a scientific Indiana Jones, but his reputation as a maverick was built on a foundation of patience and discipline.—
Alec Nevala-Lee
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
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New York is once again home, but Arden is too much a maverick to fall into the establishment trap.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
27 May 2025
Adjective
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The case is one of hundreds in the Medieval Murder Maps database, which uses coroners' rolls to track real cases of unnatural death in 14th-century England—now mapped across cities like London, Oxford, and York.—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 June 2025
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With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
5 June 2025
Noun
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American eccentrics like Walters long have provided material for satirists across the pond.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
11 June 2025
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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
Cite this Entry
“Deviant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deviant. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
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