Deviate

/ˈdiː.vi.eɪt/ · verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To go off course from; to change course; to change plans..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To go off course from; to change course; to change plans.
2. (intransitive, figurative) To fall outside of, or part from, some norm; to stray.
3. (transitive) To cause to diverge.
4. (sociology) A person with deviant behaviour; a deviant, degenerate or pervert.
5. (statistics) A value equal to the difference between a measured variable factor and a fixed or algorithmic reference value.
6. (sociology) deviant

Example Sentences

These two circumstances, however, happening both unfortunately to intervene, our travellers deviated into a much less frequented track; and after riding full six miles, instead of arriving at the stately spires of Coventry, they found themselves still in a very dirty lane, where they saw no symptoms of approaching the suburbs of a large city.

Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, / May boldly deviate from the common track.

Now listen to what you've got to do, and this time if you deviate a single hair or try any of your monkey tricks it's the deep end you'll go off at.

His exhibition of nude paintings deviated from the norm.

[…] Walton has suggested that it is desirable "to name the phenomena signs of deviation, and call their possessors deviates or a deviate as the case may be […]

Under these conditions the person who appears as a deviate is a deviate only because we have chosen, somewhat arbitrarily, to call him a member of the court […]

[…] The second confederate was also to be a deviate initially […]

It will be noted that for a deviate x = 1.5, the ordinate z will have the value .130 […]

Synonyms for deviate

Antonyms for deviate

Related Words

Word Forms

• deviates
• deviating
• deviated

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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