oddity

[od-i-tee]

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noun, plural odd·i·ties for 1, 3.

an odd or remarkably unusual person, thing, or event.
the quality of being odd; singularity, strangeness, or eccentricity.
an odd characteristic or trait; peculiarity.

Origin of oddity

First recorded in 1705–15; odd + -ity

Synonyms for oddity

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1. rarity, curiosity, wonder.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for oddities

phenomenon, quirk, characteristic, incongruity, rarity, peculiarity, curiosity, idiosyncrasy, anomaly, irregularity, freak, strangeness, kink, eccentricity, unnaturalness, singularity, oddness, extraordinariness, queerness, unconventionality

Examples from the Web for oddities

Contemporary Examples of oddities

She not only understood Doug and all his oddities and frantic goofiness, but actually embraced it.
Patti Mayonnaise From ‘Doug’ Is on ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Kevin Fallon
July 29, 2013
Initially, it seems that oddities are what British journalist Jon Ronson is after in this charming menagerie of essays.
This Week’s Hot Reads: November 6, 2012
Mythili Rao
November 7, 2012
And so, oddity of oddities, one of the beneficiaries of that might be the president.
GOP Governors Conflicted by Mitt Romney’s Bad News Messaging
Matt Taylor
June 22, 2012
The Fembots of yesteryear, like Jocelyn Wildenstein and Amanda Lepore, were generally treated as oddities.
Rise of the Fembots
Rebecca Dana
April 19, 2010
Mike Zohn, co-owner of Obscura Antiques and Oddities, has sold taxidermy from his East Village shop since 1991.
Cool, Dead, and Stuffed
Melissa Milgrom
March 11, 2010

Historical Examples of oddities

I suppose you will write to the oddities, since you are forbid to see them.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
Hence, with all his oddities, he was very indulgent to his associates.
The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851
Various
Nobody but Beulah ever looks at Uncle William's collection of oddities.
Watch the Sky
James H. Schmitz
As we say of each other's freaks and oddities, it was his way, I suppose.
The Foot-path Way
Bradford Torrey
He had a cheerful temper and an imagination that was a very wilderness of oddities.
Eben Holden
Irving Bacheller

British Dictionary definitions for oddities

oddity

noun plural -ties

an odd person or thing
an odd quality or characteristic
the condition of being odd

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

Word Origin and History for oddities

oddity

1713, "odd characteristic or trait," a hybrid from odd + -ity. Meaning "odd person" is first recorded 1748.