normality

[ nawr-mal-i-tee ]

noun

, plural nor·mal·i·ties

1. conformity to the standard, typical, or average level, rate, condition or set of conditions, characteristics, behavior, etc.:

   Any assumption of a quick return to normality and business as usual is premature.

   Surprising as it may sound, simple changes to your bed and lifestyle could prove to be the difference between severe pain and normality.

2. Chemistry. the concentration of a solution relative to that of a normal solution, one that contains one equivalent weight of the solute per liter:

   Since gram equivalent weight is the measure of the reactive capacity of a molecule, the solute's role in the reaction determines the solution's normality.

3. Statistics. the fact or property of showing a frequency distribution representable by a normal curve, a symmetrical bell-shaped curve:

   To confirm the statistical validity of the model I ran a number of diagnostics, checking for observations of influences and for normality of the distribution.

Word History and Origins

Origin of normality¹

First recorded in 1830–40; normal ( def ) + -ity ( def )

Example Sentences

In the worst shot, which we captured above, the display looks darker than normal over top of the camera area.

From Ars Technica

Respectable Business Roundtable types, purpose be damned, act as if this were normal and say nothing.

From Fortune

To test so quickly in humans, the company would need to get an exemption from the normal multi-year regulatory process from the Food and Drug Administration.

From Fortune

Stress responses can return to normal during puberty, Gunnar and others have shown.

From Science News For Students

The eggs, shipped from the biotech company Oxitec based in Abingdon, England, will grow into normal-looking males.

From Science News

Normality, domesticity, ease, in the blazing Arizona desert.

From The Daily Beast

It is a brief text with philosophical leanings that revolves around the notions of normality and abnormality in human nature.

From The Daily Beast

And any semblance of normality that had previously existed seemed to have evaporated.

From The Daily Beast

The only gauge of normality that young people have is their observation of each other.

From The Daily Beast

The people of Donetsk are clinging to normality, trying to enjoy the spring, but their anger, disillusionment and fear runs deep.

From The Daily Beast

"But we've not," Guy contradicted, mustering desperately all the forces of normality to allay Pauline's over-strained ideas.

From Project Gutenberg

Everyone sees one or two things in his life that make him doubt his normality, doubt sanity, doubt his very existence.

From Project Gutenberg

Nothing can save him but a blind hunger for normality, like that of a beast.

From Project Gutenberg

When normality again prevailed, the fare was advanced to fifty dollars for first-class passage and forty dollars for second-class.

From Project Gutenberg

It made a dramatic curtain over the object of our visit and emphasized the normality and untouchedness of Avalon behind us.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ordinariness
• uniformity