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
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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
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
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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This mutation produces an abnormal transthyretin (TTR) protein that misfolds and forms amyloid deposits in the heart.—
Patty Weasler,
Verywell Health,
14 July 2025
-
Retinopathy of prematurity is an eye disease that impacts premature babies and occurs when there is abnormal growth of the blood vessels in the retina.—
Ramal Nasim
Updated July 14,
Kansas City Star,
14 July 2025
Noun
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Long a getaway for elite sun seekers and a proving ground for maverick architects, Palm Springs and the surrounding communities have become a sandbox for provenance collectors.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
3 July 2025
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Twenty years later, Frey sees himself as a maverick and dismisses the controversy with a string of expletives.—
Brendan Fitzgerald,
Longreads,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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While some can be used across different hair textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, colors (natural and unnatural), and concerns, many are created with specific consumers and their needs in mind.—
Jailynn Taylor,
Allure,
7 July 2025
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His footwork and instincts at third base are unnatural regardless of the maximum effort Chisholm Jr. has put into playing the position.—
Wayne G. McDonnell,
Forbes.com,
7 July 2025
Noun
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Ra’s decades-long adherence to this personal mythology, along with his air of serene bemusement and his extravagant robes and headdresses, led to his popular image as a colorful eccentric.—
Ekow Eshun
July 11,
Literary Hub,
11 July 2025
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Other characters include outcasts, visionaries and eccentrics — all of whom live on the margins as unseen — a former priest, a girl trapped in working her family’s candy stand, a woman who learned preaching from her brother and is a caretaker for her dying housemate.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
18 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deviant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deviant. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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