Library / English Dictionary

DEVIATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

Synonyms:

degenerate; deviant; deviate; pervert

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("deviate" is a kind of...):

miscreant; reprobate (a person without moral scruples)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deviate"):

fetishist (one who engages in fetishism (especially of a sexual nature))

masochist (someone who obtains pleasure from receiving punishment)

nympho; nymphomaniac (a woman with abnormal sexual desires)

child molester; paederast; pederast (a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner)

paedophile; pedophile (an adult who is sexually attracted to children)

sadist (someone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain on others)

sadomasochist (someone who enjoys both sadism and masochism)

lech; lecher; letch; satyr (man with strong sexual desires)

bugger; sod; sodomist; sodomite (someone who engages in anal copulation (especially a male who engages in anal copulation with another male))

Derivation:

deviate (be at variance with; be out of line with)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Markedly different from an accepted norm

Example:

deviant ideas

Synonyms:

aberrant; deviant; deviate

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

abnormal; unnatural (not normal; not typical or usual or regular or conforming to a norm)

Derivation:

deviance (deviate behavior)

deviance (a state or condition markedly different from the norm)

deviate (be at variance with; be out of line with)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Turn aside; turn away from

Synonyms:

deviate; divert

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "deviate" is one way to...):

turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deviate"):

depart; digress; sidetrack; straggle (wander from a direct or straight course)

detour (travel via a detour)

yaw (deviate erratically from a set course)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

deviation (a turning aside (of your course or attention or concern))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to turn away from a previous or expected course

Example:

The river was deviated to prevent flooding

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "deviate" is one way to...):

divert (send on a course or in a direction different from the planned or intended one)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deviate"):

perturb (cause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pull)

perturb (disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom)

shunt (provide with or divert by means of an electrical shunt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

deviation (a turning aside (of your course or attention or concern))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be at variance with; be out of line with

Synonyms:

depart; deviate; diverge; vary

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "deviate" is one way to...):

differ (be different)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deviate"):

aberrate (diverge or deviate from the straight path; produce aberration)

aberrate (diverge from the expected)

belie; contradict; negate (be in contradiction with)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Antonym:

conform (be similar, be in line with)

Derivation:

deviant (a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior)

deviant (markedly different from an accepted norm)

deviate (a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior)

deviate (markedly different from an accepted norm)

deviation (deviate behavior)

deviation (the error of a compass due to local magnetic disturbances)

deviation (the difference between an observed value and the expected value of a variable or function)

deviation (a variation that deviates from the standard or norm)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The amount that the earth's revolution deviates from a circular path; the variation of an ellipse from a circle, where a circle has an eccentricity of 0.

(Eccentricity, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The chromosomal constitution of cells which deviate from the normal by the addition or subtraction of chromosomes or chromosome pairs.

(Aneuploidy, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

It is caused by infections, allergies, and the presence of sinus polyps or a deviated septum.

(Chronic Ethmoidal Sinusitis, NCI Thesaurus)

I should have longed rather to deviate to a wood I saw not far off, which appeared in its thick shade to offer inviting shelter; but I was so sick, so weak, so gnawed with nature's cravings, instinct kept me roaming round abodes where there was a chance of food.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was impossible for her to enter on such a subject; and yet, after a pause, feeling the necessity of speaking, and having not the smallest wish for a total change, she only deviated so far as to say—You were a good while at Lyme, I think?

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I had not, it seems, the originality to chalk out a new road to shame and destruction, but trode the old track with stupid exactness not to deviate an inch from the beaten centre.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)