deviation
Americannoun
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deviations
plural
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the act of deviating.
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departure from a standard or norm.
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Statistics. the difference between one of a set of values and some fixed value, usually the mean of the set.
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Navigation. the error of a magnetic compass, as that of a ship, on a given heading as a result of local magnetism.
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Optics.
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Also called deflection. the bending of rays of light away from a straight line.
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departure or divergence from an established dogma or ideology, especially a Communist one.
noun
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an act or result of deviating
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statistics the difference between an observed value in a series of such values and their arithmetic mean
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the error of a compass due to local magnetic disturbances
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of deviation
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin dēviātiōn-, stem of dēviātiō; equivalent to deviate + -ion
Explanation
Anything that varies from the accepted norm or standard is called a deviation. It is common in math and science, but it can refer to anything that differs from the expected. Deviation in nature is an important part of evolution. When something causes a creature’s DNA to change, it creates a deviation, or a changed characteristic. If the deviation makes the organism better able to survive, it passes the change on to its descendants. People are naturally given to change, so there are deviations in critical thought as well as in math and science. Those deviations often account for the creativity that gives rise to new ideas, or theories, or even musical styles.
Vocabulary lists containing deviation
30 GRE Words Beginning with "D"
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"Tinker v. Des Moines": Excerpts from Justice Fortas's Opinion
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This Week In Words: August 31–September 6, 2019
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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.
See Examples For:
A VIX reading of 27 is one standard deviation above its long-term average of 19.4.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 4, 2026
Participants born between 1990 and 1999 had systemic aging that was 92% of one standard deviation higher than those born between 1965 and 1969.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
They showed significant deterioration in several measures, including elevator and aileron control, landing accuracy and vertical and lateral deviation on approach.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The intervention raised math achievement by 0.184 standard deviation a year in elementary school and 0.146 in secondary school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
For a long time it was hoped that measuring compass deviation and dip would enable sailors to establish their coordinates.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
"At the smallest spatial scales explored in the experiment, the production rate of J/ψ particles is significantly suppressed, with a statistical significance of about three standard deviations."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026
While average forward 100-day returns after such an outsize rally of two standard deviations have “slipped in the current bull market,” they remain positive, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
“Relativity seems pretty solid. We haven’t seen any deviations from that,” said Katie Mack, Hawking chair in cosmology and science communication at the Perimeter Institute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
While weather forecasts have been leaning toward warmer than normal, “temperature deviations from normal don’t yet appear sufficient to spur much of a price advance from here,” Ritterbusch & Associates says in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Is it not true, that slowly and through many deviations I changed from a man into a child?
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
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.
