The Meaning of Aberrant: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of aberrant? This guide will provide you with all of the knowledge you need on the word aberrant, including its definition, etymology, usage, synonyms, example sentences, and more!

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What does the word aberrant mean?

According to Collins English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the word aberrant is an adjective that means not socially acceptable or unusual. Something that is aberrant is outside the accepted norm or does something in an untypical way outside the norm of a group or its usual type. In biology, aberrant refers to a group, individual, or structure that deviates from the usual or natural type, especially with an atypical chromosome number. In botany and zoology, this word means the same thing since the 18th century or 19th century. The word aberrant has three syllables – ab-err-ant, and the pronunciation of aberrant is æˈbɛrənt. One can add the suffixes rance or cy to aberrant (adj.) to form nouns. 

According to Definitions, the term Aberrant is also the title of a role-playing game created by White Wolf Game Studio in 1999. This came was set in a world where super-powered humans started appearing one day in 1998, and is set in the year 2008. This game is a part of the greater Trinity Universe timeline, and is chronologically situated 90 years post Adventure!, White Wolf’s Pulp era game, and over a century before the psionic escapades of Trinity/Aeon. In this game, the players’ meta-human characters fit into a mundane world when they are not mundane, and the mundane populace react to the sudden emergence of novas. This was discontinued in 2002, though a d20 System version was released in 2004. Onyx Path Publishing has recently acquired the rights to the Trinity Universe. 

Words meaning aberrant are also used in many other languages. You may notice that some of these words and phrases look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates which are often formed when two words in different languages have the same root or language of origin. This list of translations of aberrant is provided by Word Sense.

  •  Catalan: aberrant‎ (masc.) (f)
  •  Romanian: aberant‎ (masc.)
  •  French: aberrant‎ (masc.)
  •  Bulgarian: отклоняващ се‎ (от правилния път)
  •  Vietnamese: lầm lạc‎
  •  Persian: گمراه‎
  •  Spanish: aberrante‎, anormal‎
  •  Portuguese: aberrante‎
  •  Dutch: aberrant‎, afwijkend‎
  •  Italian: aberrante‎
  •  Finnish: harhautunut‎, harhaileva‎
  •  Czech: scestný‎
  •  German: aberrante‎
  •  Russian: сби́вшийся с пути́‎

What is the word origin of aberrant?

According to Etymonline, the word aberrant has been used since c18/c19 and comes from the Latin aberrant, the nominative aberrans and present participle of aberrare. This comes from the Latin ab (first syllable) and Latin errare.  

How can the word aberrant be used in a sentence?

The word aberrant can be used in many different ways in the English language. Using words in a sentence is a great way to memorize their definitions and incorporate them into your vocabulary. You could also try making a quiz or flashcards to test your knowledge of different definitions. Try using this new word of the day in a sentence today! You never know, it might become a new favorite word. Below are several examples of aberrant being used in English language sentences to help get you started.

His aberrant behavior was well outside the bounds of morality. 

She decided to wander aberrant away from the group. 

The one student’s aberrant opinions made things awkward.

What are synonyms and antonyms of the word aberrant?

There are many different equivalent words that a person can use in place of the word aberrant. These are called synonyms, which are words and phrases that have the same meaning as another word or phrase. One might choose to use a synonym because they want to avoid repeating themselves, or because they would like to work  on expanding their vocabulary. This list of synonyms for the word aberrant is provided by Power Thesaurus

  •  eccentric
  •  weird
  •  unhealthy
  •  unexpected
  •  irregular
  •  immoral
  •  deviate
  •  atypical
  •  extraordinary
  •  curious
  •  queer
  •  out of line
  •  preternatural
  •  excursive
  •  special
  •  novel
  •  atypic
  •  kinky
  •  unrepresentative
  •  quaint
  •  erroneous
  •  debauched
  •  incongruous
  •  oddball
  •  freak
  •  unfamiliar
  •  aberrational
  •  deflecting
  •  out-of-the-way
  •  deviating
  •  sinful
  •  offbeat
  •  nonstandard
  •  funny
  •  straying
  •  twisted
  •  warped
  •  heteromorphic
  •  depraved
  •  degenerate
  •  anomalous
  •  freakish
  •  quirky
  •  kooky
  •  outlandish
  •  improper
  •  erring
  •  nonconformist
  •  uncustomary
  •  off-base
  •  peculiar
  •  different
  •  unconventional
  •  uncommon
  •  rare
  •  neurotic
  •  incorrect
  •  false
  •  odd
  •  isolated
  •  surprising
  •  idiosyncratic
  •  divergent
  •  heteroclite
  •  off
  •  unusual
  •  wrong
  •  unwonted
  •  bizarre
  •  exceptional
  •  distorted
  •  strange
  •  untypical
  •  faulty
  •  daggy
  •  flawed
  •  fallacious
  •  errant
  •  debased
  •  unorthodox
  •  unnatural
  •  erratic
  •  mad
  •  freaky
  •  morbid
  •  singular
  •  corrupt
  •  anomalistic
  •  off the air
  •  unique
  •  unprecedented
  •  devious
  •  out of the ordinary
  •  disparate
  •  deviant
  •  perverted
  •  perverse
  •  abnormal
  •  stray
  •  wandering

There are also a great many words that mean the opposite of the word aberrant. These are called antonyms. English language antonyms are also very useful grammatical devices to know. This list of antonyms for the word aberrant is also provided by Power Thesaurus

  •   regular
  •  frequent
  •  natural
  •  emblematical
  •  all-out
  •  flat
  •  flat-out
  •  silken
  •  everyday
  •  unremarkable
  •  efficient
  •  delineative
  •  artless
  •  fitting in
  •  intrinsic
  •  unexceptional
  •  correct
  •  indubitable
  •  depictive
  •  in every respect
  •  extreme
  •  consummate
  •  arrant
  •  standard
  •  factual
  •  categoric
  •  immaculate
  •  for real
  •  familiar
  •  inerrant
  •  common
  •  pandemic
  •  congenital
  •  clean
  •  cut-and-dried
  •  impeccable
  •  same thing
  •  cotton-picking
  •  fair
  •  generally accepted
  •  comfortable
  •  bona fide
  •  absolute
  •  clearheaded
  •  typical
  •  non-descript
  •  have just been
  •  average
  •  chaste
  •  characteristic
  •  cookie-cutter
  •  bang on
  •  realistic
  •  downright
  •  exact
  •  categorical
  •  customary
  •  in accordance with reality
  •  crashing
  •  case
  •  authentic
  •  actual
  •  able
  •  grumpy
  •  absolutely correct
  •  ant’s pants
  •  dime a dozen
  •  certified
  •  ingenuous
  •  dinkum
  •  true
  •  definite
  •  blooming
  •  fairly common
  •  balanced
  •  deadly
  •  normal
  •  certifiable
  •  complete
  •  emblematic
  •  echt
  •  amicable
  •  deep-dyed
  •  conventional
  •  usual
  •  dreadful
  •  same
  •  dutiful
  •  amen
  •  accurate
  •  faithful
  •  admissible
  •  genuine
  •  commonplace
  •  all over
  •  dyed-in-the-wool
  •  household
  •  dead-on
  •  bodacious
  •  terrestrial

Overall, the word aberrant means outside of normal. This word is Latin in origin.

Sources:

  1. abberant: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
  2. Aberrant synonyms – 769 Words and Phrases for Aberrant | Power Thesaurus 
  3. Aberrant antonyms – 206 Opposites of Aberrant | Power Thesaurus 
  4. aberrant | Origin and meaning of aberrant | Online Etymology Dictionary 
  5. What does aberrant mean? | Definitions 
  6. Aberrant definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary