deviance
Americannoun
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Also called: deviancy. the act or state of being deviant
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statistics a measure of the degree of fit of a statistical model compared to that of a more complete model
Etymology
Origin of deviance
Explanation
Deviance refers to a state that is veering away from the norm. Wearing a chicken suit to work would definitely be an example of deviance, unless of course you're a mascot. If you know that deviating means to depart from what's normal, you won't be surprised that deviance is a condition of abnormal or aberrant behavior. Deviance includes behavior that is considered weird, odd, and strange. Sometimes, deviance could include illegal behavior. Since people don't agree on what's normal, they don't agree on what counts as deviance either.
Vocabulary lists containing deviance
Hunger of Memory
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The Black Girl Survives in This One
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The study also showed that the brainstem can utilize other features of bat calls for deviance detection, such as rapid changes in frequency or volume, in addition to differences in pitch.
From Science Daily • Feb. 23, 2024
“Because any time there is a deviance in regards to security protocols, that should be taken serious, it should be investigated,” Ms. Omar said.
From Washington Times • Jan. 16, 2023
“For someone like me who comes from India, she’s made me feel that I belonged. It was okay to be different. My deviance wasn’t wrong,” he said.
From Washington Post • Oct. 11, 2022
While the latter scenario was obviously beneficial, employees who did not believe there was a sincere sense of companionship with humble leaders exhibited "subordinate psychological entitlement, which in turn increases workplace deviance."
From Salon • Jun. 22, 2022
Without equality, eugenics would inevitably falter on the false premise that social ills, such as vagrancy, pauperism, deviance, alcoholism, and feeblemindedness were genetic ills—while, in fact, they merely reflected inequality.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
