deviance

[ dee-vee-uhns ]

/ ˈdi vi əns /

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See synonyms for deviance on Thesaurus.com

noun

deviant quality or state.

deviant behavior.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Also de·vi·an·cy .

Origin of deviance

First recorded in 1940–45; devi(ant) + -ance

Words nearby deviance

de Vere, Devereux, Devers, devest, Devi, deviance, deviant, deviate, deviation, deviationism, device

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use deviance in a sentence

Some may abuse victims for reasons similar to male offenders – for example, to gain power, to retaliate against someone or because of sexual deviance.
Ghislaine Maxwell Guilty In Epstein Sex Trafficking Trial: What The Case Revealed About Female Sex Offenders|LGBTQ-Editor|January 11, 2022|No Straight News
The term “positive deviance” first appeared in the mid 1970s, but the approach did not gain traction until nearly two decades later.
Why do some people succeed when others fail? Outliers provide clues|Sujata Gupta|January 6, 2022|Science News
Without approaches such as positive deviance that look at groups and individuals in the margins, “I just worry that we are missing a hugely important part of the picture,” Higgs says.
Why do some people succeed when others fail? Outliers provide clues|Sujata Gupta|January 6, 2022|Science News
One concerning upshot of this is the medicalization of deviance, which can ultimately motivate biological intervention to eliminate behaviors considered non-normative or wrong.
The Trouble with Brain Scans - Issue 98: Mind|Kelsey Ichikawa|March 31, 2021|Nautilus

In a 2013 study, psychologists designed a series of experiments to give people the opportunity to cheat on a puzzle, then measured how the deviance made them feel.
Playing bad can shape behavior, but not in the way you think|Erin Blakemore|September 28, 2020|Popular-Science
They were found guilty of practicing habitual debauchery and inciting others to sexual deviance because of the footage.
Sisi Is Persecuting, Prosecuting, and Publicly Shaming Egypt’s Gays|Bel Trew|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This is a novel about sexual deviance, relentlessness, and desire.
The Modern ‘Lolita’: Dramatizing the Mind of a Female Pedophile in Alissa Nutting’s ‘Tampa’|Roxane Gay|June 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But his sexual deviance, sporadic drug addiction, and overreliance on hand-to-hand combat may not hold up to scrutiny.
10 Fictional Replacements for CIA Chief David Petraeus|Ben Teitelbaum, Laura Colarusso|November 10, 2012|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for deviance

deviance

/ (ˈdiːvɪəns) /

noun

Also called: deviancy the act or state of being deviant

statistics a measure of the degree of fit of a statistical model compared to that of a more complete model

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

deviance

Origin of deviance

Words nearby deviance

Words related to deviance

How to use deviance in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for deviance