SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS

anomalous

adjective

Inconsistent with what is usual or expected.

Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.

Departing from the expected

Closest synonyms

Related words and expressions

These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.

Usage distinction

Exceptional can be approving; anomalous simply identifies a departure requiring explanation.

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CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT

See anomalous in use

An anomalous page number suggested that a leaf was missing.
Dictionary practice example.
A campus print team noticed that one poster had emerged with a narrow stripe. Their first hypothesis was that the uploaded image contained the stripe, but the original file looked clean. The result was anomalous because the other posters from the same session had no such mark.
From Following the Evidence.

Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.

Synonym reference scope and sources

The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.

How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license

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