# anomaly

Pronunciation: US say "uh-NAH-muh-lee" /əˈnɑ.mə.li/; say "uh-NOM-uh-lee" UK /əˈnɒm.ə.lɪ/, AUS /əˈnɔm.ə.lɪ/

## Noun

1. Something that departs from what is normal, expected, or regular, such as an unusual event or measurement.
   - Simple: Something strange or unusual that does not fit the normal pattern.
   - _The losing streak was an anomaly in what had otherwise been the team's best season in years._
   - _Lawmakers moved to close an anomaly in the pension rules that let part-time staff retire earlier than full-time workers._
2. In biology, a defect or malformation in an organism or one of its parts.
   - Simple: A fault in a body or plant, or a part that did not form in the normal way.
   - _Routine ultrasound can detect many anomalies of the kidneys before birth._
   - _Researchers recorded a skeletal anomaly in several of the fossils._
3. Any of several angular distances used in astronomy.
   - Simple: In astronomy, any of several distances that are measured as angles.
   - _At perihelion the comet's true anomaly is zero, and it grows as the comet swings outward._
   - _The software converts the satellite's mean anomaly into a position along its orbit._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In quantum theory, the failure of a symmetry that holds in the classical theory once quantum corrections are included.

## Origin

Ancient Greek homós ("same") gave homalós ("even"), and its negative anṓmalos ("irregular, uneven") produced anōmalía ("irregularity, anomaly"). Latin borrowed this as anomalia, the source of the English word.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/anomaly (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).