deviate — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To go off course from; to change course; to change plans.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

2. To fall outside of, or part from, some norm; to stray.

   Usage

   • Figurative
   • Intransitive

   Examples

   His exhibition of nude paintings deviated from the norm.

3. To cause to diverge.

   Usage

   • Transitive

Noun

1. A person with deviant behaviour; a deviant, degenerate or pervert.

   Synonyms

   deviantdegeneratepervert

   Examples

   […] 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 […]

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

2. A value equal to the difference between a measured variable factor and a fixed or algorithmic reference value.

   Examples

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

   This difference is called a deviate. When a deviate is divided by its SD a, it is called a relative deviate or a standard deviate.

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   This is a deviate so the appropriate function is qt. We need to supply it with the probability (in this case p = 0.975) and the degrees of freedom...

Adjective

1. deviant

   Examples

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   It's somewhat in vogue to give special attention and consideration to the alternative lifestyle, which five years ago we would have called the deviate lifestyle.

Adjective

1. markedly different from an accepted norm

   Synonyms

   aberrantdeviant

   Examples

   aberrant behavior

   deviant ideas

Noun

1. a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

   Synonyms

   pervertdeviantdegeneratepervperve

   Broader terms

   reprobatemiscreant

Verb

1. turn aside; turn away from

   Synonyms

   divert

   Broader terms

   turn

2. be at variance with; be out of line with

   Synonyms

   varydivergedepart

   Antonyms

   conform

   Broader terms

   differ

3. cause to turn away from a previous or expected course

   Broader terms

   divert

   Examples

   The river was deviated to prevent flooding