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heteroclite

American  
[het-er-uh-klahyt] / ˈhɛt ər əˌklaɪt /

adjective

  1. irregular or abnormal; anomalous.

  2. Grammar. irregular in inflection; having inflected forms belonging to more than one class of stems.

noun

  1. a person or thing that deviates from the ordinary rule or form.

  2. Grammar. a heteroclite word.

heteroclite British  
/ ˈhɛtərəˌklaɪt /

adjective

  1. (esp of the form of a word) irregular or unusual

"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

noun

  1. an irregularly formed word

"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

Etymology

Origin of heteroclite

1570–80; < Middle French < Late Latin heteroclitus < Greek heteróklitos, equivalent to hetero- hetero- + -klitos, verbid of klī́nein to bend, inflect

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.

Heterogeneous nouns may at the same time be heteroclites, as in case of the first two examples above.

From Project Gutenberg

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.