oddball
Americannoun
adjective
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of oddball
Explanation
People who just don't fit in — they're a little strange, or somewhat eccentric — are oddballs. If you're a non-sports fan surrounded by enthusiastic football supporters cheering for the home team, you might feel like an oddball. The kid who brings her book to an amusement park is an oddball, and so is the guy who pushes his dog around in a baby stroller. This informal word for "weirdo" or "misfit" is good for describing someone whose eccentricities are fairly obvious, like your uncle, the oddball who wears full clown makeup to every family gathering. Oddball was first used in the 1940s, modeled after the earlier screwball, first meaning a wayward baseball pitch and later "eccentric person."
Vocabulary lists containing oddball
Strange
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Strange
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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.
Oddball titles like "Doom Patrol" could have a place in new DC.
From Salon • Dec. 8, 2022
Instead, you’re randomly dropped into one of the modes that’s currently available, which include things like Slayer, Capture The Flag, and Oddball.
From The Verge • Dec. 3, 2021
Oddball trinkets aside, Sideshow takes its art seriously.
From Washington Post • Dec. 12, 2019
Take a walk on the villainous side, with the author of “The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains: Oddball Criminals From Comic Book History.”
From Seattle Times • Mar. 24, 2017
Uric the Oddball attempted at one time to prove that Fwooper song was actually beneficial to the health and listened to it for three months on end without a break.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
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.
