anomaly
noun
Did you know?
You might be familiar with the Greek word homos, which means "same." It is from this word that we get words like homonym, homogeneous, and homophone, all of which have to do with sameness or similarity. What does this have to do with anomaly? Although it's not obvious, homos is a part of the etymology of anomaly, too. Anomaly is a descendant of the Greek word anōmalos, which means "uneven" or "irregular." Anōmalos comes from the prefix a- (meaning "not") and the word homalos (meaning "even")—and homalos comes from homos.
Synonyms
Examples of anomaly in a Sentence
Lauren A. Weiss et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 14 Feb. 2008
Eleven minutes may not sound like much when you're waiting for a table at your favorite restaurant, but in the course of centuries, eleven minutes and change become a formidable chunk of time. By the 1300s, those superfluous minutes had added up to hours, then days, then more than a week. The calendar was losing time, irrevocably, to the "real" year, slipping further and further behind in its measurement of the earth's orbit. Anomalies began to creep into what had been the certainties of life. The spring equinox—one of two moments in the year when day and night are of equal length all over the earth, and which occurs on or about March 21—began to fall on March 16, then 15, then 14.
—Michelle Stacey, Harper's, December 2006
Californians aren't the only ones vexed by rolling brownouts and other power-supply anomalies. Everyday power spikes, surges, sags, and line noise cause computers, stereo equipment, televisions, telephones, and other delicate electronic equipment to go psychotic or have complete nervous breakdowns.
—Fortune, 25 June 2001
This policy may well have made sense back when steroid use was an anomaly. Now that bulking up with chemical help seems to be more popular than ever, it's incumbent on baseball to take action.
—Steve Kettman, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2000
We couldn't explain the anomalies in the test results.
her C grade is an anomaly, as she's never made anything except A's and B's before
New Atlas, 26 Oct. 2024
Routinely refreshing baselines helps reduce false positives and ensures that anomalies are identified accurately.
—Sameer Malhotra, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
Congenital anomalies can include the following, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development:
Heart defects, like missing or misshapen valves.
—Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 23 Oct. 2024
Ancient highland settlements, such as Machu Picchu in Peru, are considered anomalies given the harshness of life at high elevations, the study noted.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 23 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for anomaly 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'anomaly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near anomaly
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“Anomaly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anomaly. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
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anomaly
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