deviate

American  

[dee-vee-eyt, dee-vee-it] / ˈdi viˌeɪt, ˈdi vi ɪt /

verb (used without object)

deviated, deviating

1. to turn aside, as from a route, way, course, etc.

   Synonyms:

   stray, wander, veer

2. to depart or swerve, as from a procedure, course of action, or acceptable norm.

3. to digress, as from a line of thought or reasoning.

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verb (used with object)

deviated, deviating

1. to cause to swerve; turn aside.

adjective

1. characterized by deviation or departure from an accepted norm or standard, as of behavior.

noun

1. a person or thing that departs from the accepted norm or standard.

2. a person whose sexual behavior departs from the norm in a way that is considered socially or morally unacceptable.

3. Statistics. a variable equal to the difference between a variate and some fixed value, often the mean.

deviate British  

verb

1. (usually intr) to differ or diverge or cause to differ or diverge, as in belief or thought

2. (usually intr) to turn aside or cause to turn aside; diverge or cause to diverge

3. (intr) psychol to depart from an accepted standard or convention

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noun

1. another word for deviant

Related Words

Deviate, digress, diverge, swerve imply turning or going aside from a path. To deviate is to turn or wander, often by slight degrees, from what is considered the most direct or desirable approach to a given physical, intellectual, or moral end: Fear caused him to deviate from the truth. To digress is primarily to wander from the main theme or topic in writing or speaking: Some authors digress to relate entertaining episodes. Two paths diverge when they proceed from a common point in such directions that the distance between them increases: The sides of an angle diverge from a common point. Their interests gradually diverged. To swerve is to make a sudden or sharp turn from a line or course: The car swerved to avoid striking a pedestrian.

Other Word Forms

• deviability noun
• deviable adjective
• deviator noun
• deviatory adjective
• nondeviating adjective
• undeviable adjective
• undeviated adjective
• undeviating adjective
• undeviatingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of deviate

First recorded in 1625–35; from Late Latin dēviātus “turned from the road,” past participle of dēviāre “to stray, turn from the road,” from Latin dē- de- + vi(a) “road, way” + āre, infinitive verb suffix

Example Sentences

Despite heavy bleeding and a deviated septum, Davies continued playing.

From BBC

The country's security police chief, Margo Palloson, said it was "a Ukrainian drone that deviated from its course, which was possibly affected in Russian airspace."

From BBC

“If we expect inflation to deviate significantly and persistently from target, the response must be appropriately forceful or persistent,” she said in a speech.

From The Wall Street Journal

However, some of these tokenized offerings have significantly deviated in value from underlying shares and critics point out that they are technically derivatives that don’t convey the same shareholder rights as underlying securities.

From The Wall Street Journal

When it picked No. 3 seed Illinois to go all the way, it deviated from the pack and the other AI models.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• depart
• differ
• diverge
• vary
• veer