Aberration Meaning
/ˌæb.əˈɹeɪ.ʃn̩/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe act of wandering; deviation from truth, moral rectitude; abnormal; divergence from the straight, correct, proper, normal, or from the natural state.
nounThe convergence to different foci, by a lens or mirror, of rays of light emanating from one and the same point, or the deviation of such rays from a single focus; a defect in a focusing mechanism that prevents the intended focal point.
Sentence Examples
It wasn't an aberration.
Owing to a strange mental aberration, Tom forgot his own name.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sudden snowstorm in July was a climatic ____ that surprised even the most experienced meteorologists.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The low test score was an ____ in his otherwise excellent record.
Word Origin & History
A learned borrowing from Latin aberrātiō(n) (“relief, diversion”), first attested in 1594, from aberrō (“wander away, go astray”), from ab (“away”) + errō (“wander”). Compare French aberration. By surface analysis, aberrat(e) + -ion.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A derailment which occurred on April 18 last between Laindon and Pitsea on the London Tilbury & Southend Line was caused by a lengthman who in a moment of aberration clipped a set of spring catch points in the derailing position, concludes Col. J. R. H. Robertson in his report […]."
— 1961 December, “Talking of Trains: Derailment near Laindon”, in Trains Illustrated, page 717:
"The bulk of questionable experimentation upon African Americans is not detailed here because much of it consists of aberrations in therapeutics that were ostensibly meant to cure."
— 2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Introduction”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 30:
"Our ancien regime, like the aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France, thought the party would never end. 2016 shook their historicist faith in the arc of the moral universe but by 2020 they hoped to write Trump off as an aberration. In retrospect, 2020 was the aberration, the rearguard action of a struggling regime and its struldbrugg ruler."
— 2025 January 10, Peter Thiel, “A time for truth and reconciliation”, in Financial Times:
"Occasional aberrations of intellect"
— 1819, John Lingard, The History of England, From the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of Henry VIII:
"We see indeed the aberrations of unruly appetite"
— 1828, Isaac Taylor, The balance of criminality:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sudden snowstorm in July was a climatic ____ that surprised even the most experienced meteorologists.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The low test score was an ____ in his otherwise excellent record.