Meaning

A part of something that is left over, such as a piece of cloth..

Definitions by Sense

1. A part of something that is left over, such as a piece of cloth.
2. Something that does not match the things it is with or cannot easily be categorized; a miscellaneous item.
3. (commerce) An item that was originally part of a set but is sold individually; an excess item of stock.
4. (printing) A part of a book that is not a portion of the text, such as the title, index, etc. (usually plural).
5. A person who does not fit in with others or is considered to be strange in some way.
6. A varied collection (of items).
7. A remaining number or amount (after a calculation).
8. Something strange or unusual.

Example Sentences

an oddment of ribbon / of wood

1926, Ronald Firbank, Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, Chapter 6, in The Complete Ronald Firbank, Norfolk, CT: J. Laughlin, p. 667, ‘Ps! ps!’ she purred, feeling amorously for her scissors beneath the sumptuous oddments of old church velvet and brocade that she loved to ruffle and ruck.

The Lahore Museum was larger, but here were more wonders—ghost-daggers and prayer-wheels from Tibet; […] gilt figures of Buddha, and little portable lacquer altars; Russian samovars with turquoises on the lid; […] arms of all sorts and kinds, and a thousand other oddments were cased, or piled, or merely thrown into the room, […]

[…] there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful.

[The chest] was filled with oddments of reference: large-scale maps, back copies of Who’s Who, old Baedekers.

[…] a tall thin man with oddments of old armor buckled on over his ratty pink robes.

[…] she pushed me inside a shop that sold oddments and seconds.

Whoever had purchased this supply of arms had scoured all the darker bazaars of the international weapons market, buying a lot here, another lot there, an oddment in a third place.

Word Forms

• oddments

Synonyms for oddment

Related Words

When Should You Use Oddment?

Use oddment when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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