Deviation

/ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/ · noun

Meaning

The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road..

Definitions by Sense

1. The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road.
2. A departure from the correct way of acting.
3. The state or result of having deviated; a transgression; an act of sin; an error; an offense.
4. A detour in a road or railway.
5. (aviation) A detour to one side of the originally-planned flightpath (for instance, to avoid weather); the act of making such a detour.
6. (contract law) The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility.
7. (Absolute Deviation) The shortest distance between the center of the target and the point where a projectile hits or bursts.
8. (statistics) For interval variables and ratio variables, a measure of difference between the observed value and the mean.

Example Sentences

The combination of Archie Jones’s working-class, Cockney accent, Samad’s Asian-English and Clara’s Creolized Caribbean English represent socio-linguistic deviations from Standard English as the centripetal forces of language undermining any notion of a homoglossic centre to the nation’s language and culture.

mankind’s deviation from divine will

"A rough place, my last district; sixty navvies on the Springbank deviation works, let alone eighty of these dole bugs to attend to."

The flightcrew observed en route thunderstorms both visually and on the airplane's weather radar, so they requested and received clearance for a deviation to the left of course from the HNL Combined Center Radar Approach Control (CERAP).

Synonyms for deviation

Antonyms for deviation

Related Words

Word Forms

• deviations

Usage Notes

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

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