anomaly
- noun
- /əˈnɑːməli/
- Specialized
- The South Atlantic anomaly causes unusual variations in Earth's magnetic field.
- branchial anomaly
- cleft anomaly
- first branchial cleft anomaly
Examples
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Senator, the Infinity was drawn off course... by a magnetic attraction from a dimensional anomaly in the time-space continuum.
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On how I relate to my reader: There is an acoustical anomaly in a vaulted hall at Grand Central Station in Manhattan.
Academic text (2012) -
But the South Atlantic Anomaly is pretty cool.
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You rescued her ship from an anomaly field.
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I was still at S.H.I.E.L.D. when I got the call about a quantum anomaly in Argentina.
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I recently watched a Horizon program on the BBC that mentioned the 'South Atlantic Anomaly.'
Blog text (18) -
A magnetic anomaly will be detected as you continue to survey prior to groundbreaking for another attraction.
Fiction book (1999) -
Jim also looked at the chlorophyll anomaly over 10 years of MODIS Aqua data with Giovanni.
Blog text (6) -
Detecting unidentified space anomaly.
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Drawing on a study of women who ended wanted pregnancies due to fetal anomaly, McCoyd discusses the expectations women have about the health care system.
Academic text (2010)
Synonyms
An angle you measure along the path around a planet or star from the closest point
Compounds
- Specialized
A change in the number or shape of chromosomes that often causes health problems
- Specialized
An angle you measure along the path around a planet or star from the closest point
Surface Forms
Morphology
anomaly = anomalous (opaque) = an + anomal + y
The astronomical sense is a specialized technical meaning and cannot be predicted from the morphemes; the combining form is not transparently meaningful to learners.
Etymology
The word anomaly in astronomy keeps the idea of 'unevenness' from Greek a- 'not' and homalos 'even', and it names the angle that shows how far a planet is from the usual point in its orbit. So astronomers call that angle an anomaly because it measures how the planet is off from an even path.