aberration
noun
ab·er·ra·tion
| \ ˌa-bə-ˈrā-shən
\
\
Definition of aberration
b
: something or someone regarded as atypical and therefore able to be ignored or discounted
Harkins was to be regarded as an aberration among American military leaders …— Neil Sheehan The U.S. establishment treated this grassroots movement almost as an aberration, virtually ignoring it.— Helen Caldicott As for Putin's desire to lay waste to Chechnya, Western leaders largely dismiss it as an aberration … — The New Republic
2
: failure of a mirror, refracting surface, or lens to produce exact point-to-point correspondence between an object and its image
chromatic aberration … the telescope suffers from a serious focusing problem, a condition known as spherical aberration, which causes the point-like images of stars to be surrounded by fuzzy haze.— M. Mitchell Waldrop
3
: unsoundness or disorder of the mind
4
: a small periodic change of apparent position in celestial bodies due to the combined effect of the motion of light and the motion of the observer
5
: an aberrant individual
Keep scrolling for more
Other Words from aberration
aberrational
\ -shnəl
, -shə-nᵊl \
adjective
, -shə-nᵊl \
adjective
aberrational behavior
They react, often in anger, to particular decisions but tend to regard them as aberrational rather than systemic failures.
— Robert H. Bork
Synonyms & Antonyms for aberration
Synonyms
dementia, derangement, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, rage [archaic]
Antonyms
Visit the Thesaurus for More
Examples of aberration in a Sentence
Recently geneticists have taken a closer look at a genetic aberration previously considered rare … . The genes may be perfectly normal, yet there is a shortage or surplus of DNA sequences that may play a role in diseases that defy straightforward genetic patterns …
— Melinda Wenner, Scientific American, June 2009
He did hit five homers for Texas in 1987, but that was an aberration. In no other major league season has he hit more than three, and last season he actually came up with a goose egg.
— E. M. Swift, Sports Illustrated, 5 Apr. 1989
Gilliard's studies of numerous bird of paradise species brought them from the realm of exotic aberrations to the forefront of sociobiology.
— Jared M. Diamond, Nature, 24-30 Sept. 1981
For her, such a low grade on an exam was an aberration.
a study of sexual aberration
See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Love’s senior season at Stanford was an injury-plagued mess, but that could prove to be an aberration. — Kevin Cusick, Twin Cities, "The Loop Fantasy Football Preview: The Rookies," 2 Aug. 2019 The failure last year of a century-old transmission line that sparked a wildfire, killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise wasn’t an aberration, the documents show. — Russell Gold, WSJ, "PG&E Knew for Years Its Lines Could Spark Wildfires, and Didn’t Fix Them," 10 July 2019 In today’s neoclassical economics, rents are seen as a temporary aberration, the result of market defects that will disappear given sufficient competition. — Tim O'reilly, Quartz, "Antitrust regulators are using the wrong tools to break up Big Tech," 17 July 2019 Does the family, in its remove from society, represent the apex of civilization, or a pathetic aberration? — Tim Parks, Harper's magazine, "Behind the High Walls," 10 Feb. 2019 Biden was shrewd in speaking to the severity of the situation at hand: noting four years of Sweet Potato Saddam is an aberration but a fundamental shift in American politics with two. — Michael Arceneaux, Essence, "Cory Booker, Julián Castro Held Their Ground During CNN's Second Debate Night," 1 Aug. 2019 Usually, different lenses with different properties are stacked on top of each other to remove aberrations and achieve full-colour wide-angle images. — The Economist, "How to make a flat lens," 25 July 2019 Longtime Republicans said the GOP's current position is a reminder that Ryan's emphasis on putting fiscal conservatism at the fore of the party's agenda was probably an aberration. — Robert Costa, Anchorage Daily News, "Under Trump, GOP shrugs at deficit," 24 July 2019 Hastings brushed off the disappointing second quarter as an aberration and predicted Netflix’s subscriber growth this year will surpass the 28.6 million customers who were added last year. — Washington Post, "Netflix’s 2Q dud rattles investors as competition heats up," 17 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aberration.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for aberration
aberration
noun
ab·er·ra·tion
| \ ˌa-bə-ˈrā-shən
\
\
Kids Definition of aberration
: an instance of being different from what is normal or usual
The poor test grade was an aberration for her.
aberration
noun
ab·er·ra·tion
| \ ˌab-ə-ˈrā-shən
\
\
Medical Definition of aberration
1
: failure of a mirror, refracting surface, or lens to produce exact point-to-point correspondence between an object and its image
2
: unsoundness or disorder of the mind
3
: an aberrant organ or individual
Other Words from aberration
aberrational
\ -shnəl, -shən-əl
\
adjective
\
adjective
Keep scrolling for more