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anomaly

anomaly

5 8.9
The angle showing a planet's position from its closest point to the sun in its orbit
  • noun
  • /əˈnɑːməli/
  • Specialized
translation icon : anomalía
  • The South Atlantic anomaly causes unusual variations in Earth's magnetic field.
  • branchial anomaly
  • cleft anomaly
  • first branchial cleft anomaly

Examples

  • Senator, the Infinity was drawn off course... by a magnetic attraction from a dimensional anomaly in the time-space continuum.

  • 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.

  • You rescued her ship from an anomaly field.

  • I was still at S.H.I.E.L.D. when I got the call about a quantum anomaly in Argentina.

  • 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.

  • 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

true anomaly
vsanomaly
  • Specialized
9.9

An angle you measure along the path around a planet or star from the closest point

is specific to a planet observed from the sun toward perihelion

Compounds

chromosomal anomaly
  • Specialized
1 6.7

A change in the number or shape of chromosomes that often causes health problems

congenital anomaly
  • Specialized
1 6.0

A body or organ problem present when a baby is born

true anomaly
  • Specialized
9.9

An angle you measure along the path around a planet or star from the closest point

Surface Forms

anomaly singular
anomalies plural

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.