SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
anomaly
noun
Something that differs from what is usual or expected.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Departure from a pattern
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topAn outlier is a particular observation apart from others; anomaly has wider use.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The anomaly family
These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.
anomalousadjective
Inconsistent with what is usual or expected.
Departing from the expected
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
An anomalous page number suggested that a leaf was missing.
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.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See anomaly in use
The missing page number was the only anomaly in the otherwise regular sequence.
An archive volunteer noticed an anomaly in a box of carefully numbered photographs: two unrelated pictures carried the same identification code.
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