normal

Less common meanings

4. 4
   bell curveadjective

   Having a normal distribution, or relating to a random variable whose values follow that bell-shaped distribution.

   Many natural measurements, such as height, are approximately normal.

   When the residuals are normal, standard confidence intervals apply directly.

   SimilarGaussian

   Note

   Here the adjective moves from the curve to whatever follows it: a normal random variable, normal residuals, normal measurement errors. The underlying density is also called Gaussian, and its graph is the familiar bell curve. When a variable is called normal, a mean and a variance are enough to describe it completely. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The normal distribution is also called Gaussian and has a bell-shaped density graph. itl.nist.gov
   • A normal distribution is completely specified by its mean and variance. itl.nist.gov
5. 5
   mainstream personnounslangcountable

   An ordinary person who fits into mainstream society, rather than one living an alternative lifestyle.

   To the festival regulars, anyone in a suit was just a normal.

   She grew tired of being treated like a normal by her artist friends.

   UsageOften mildly dismissive, said from inside a subculture looking out: just a normal, a total normal.

   Similarsquare, conformist, normie

   Oppositenonconformist, bohemian, weirdo

   Note

   Unlike the clinical noun, this is slang, and it is usually spoken from inside a subculture looking out.

6. 6
   at right angles toadjective

   Perpendicular to the tangent of a curve, or to the tangent plane of a surface, at the point of contact.

   The force acts in a direction normal to the inclined plane.

   At each point of the sphere, the radius is normal to the surface.

   UsageUsed with to: a force normal to the surface.

   Similarperpendicular, orthogonal

   Oppositeparallel

   Note

   This was the word's earliest meaning in English, from Latin norma, the carpenter's square that sets a right angle. Geometers often specify a direction. On a sphere, the interior normal points toward the center and the exterior normal points away, both along the radius.

7. 7
   line pointing outnouncountable

   A line or vector at a right angle to a given line, plane, or surface, pointing straight out from it.

   To reflect the ray, we first find the normal at the point of impact.

   Each face of the model stores a normal that defines which way it points.

   Similarperpendicular

   Note

   As a countable noun it pluralizes freely, so a surface can carry many normals. These are the working tool for describing orientation. They are used to compute reflections and intersections, and in surface shading, where normals may be stored at the vertices of a model. For the adjective behind the noun, see the 'perpendicular' sense. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

   • The countable noun has the plural normals. en.wiktionary.org
   • A surface can have normals at multiple positions. pbr-book.org
   • Normals describe surface orientation. scratchapixel.com
   • Normals are used to compute reflections. pbr-book.org
   • Normals are used to compute intersections. cs.uaf.edu
   • Normals are used in surface shading, but each face need not store its own normal. Normals can instead be stored at vertices and interpolated across faces. pbr-book.org
8. 8
   teacher trainingadjective

   Concerned with training teachers and instructing them in the established methods of education.

   Many future educators trained at a normal school in the nineteenth century.

   Before it became a large university, the campus was a small normal school for future teachers.

   UsageUsed chiefly in normal school and institutional names such as Tianjin Normal University.

   Note

   This sense is met almost entirely in institutional names: Mankato State Normal School, Illinois State Normal University, Montana's State Normal College. It now survives chiefly in such historical names. This is why a normal school was not an ordinary school but a training college for teachers. The adjective refers to the norms of teaching that such schools passed on. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • Mankato State Normal School was an institutional name. mankato.mnsu.edu
   • Illinois State Normal University was an institutional name. universitymarketing.illinoisstate.edu
   • Montana had an institution named State Normal College. umwestern.edu
   • A normal school was an institution for training teachers. en.wikipedia.org
   • Normal in this educational sense refers to teaching norms. traditions.illinoisstate.edu
9. 9
   healthy personnouncountable

   A healthy person, especially one used as a baseline for comparison against someone who is ill.

   Researchers compared brain scans from patients with scans from a group of healthy normals.

   Each normal in the control group underwent the same screening.

   UsageMostly in research writing, often plural: healthy normals. Outside a study, calling someone a normal sounds odd.

   Similarcontrol

   Note

   Clinical and research writing uses this as a count noun for healthy subjects who serve as a control.

10. 10
    obsessedadjectiveslangsarcastic

    Passionately and obsessively interested in a particular subject.

    She has been completely normal about her new puppy, posting forty photos of him since Tuesday.

    The fans were so normal about the series that they memorized every line.

    Similarobsessive, obsessed, fanatical, crazy

    Note

    Fandom slang that works by deadpan understatement: calling yourself 'very normal about' a show's villain means you are anything but. Someone who writes a 30-page analysis of a character might use it.

11. 11
    adjective

    Of a signal or set of points: in the designated default position it rests in when not operated, as opposed to reverse.
12. 12
    adjective

    Describing a hydrocarbon, or a related compound, whose carbon atoms form a single straight, unbranched chain, as in n-butane.
13. 13
    adjective

    Describing a solution that contains one equivalent weight of dissolved substance per liter of solution.
14. 14
    adjective

    Describing a mode of vibration in which all parts of an object oscillate at the same frequency.
15. 15
    adjective

    Of a subgroup: whose cosets form a group under the operation inherited from the larger group.
16. 16
    adjective

    (mathematics) Of a matrix or operator: commuting with its conjugate transpose or adjoint.
17. 17
    adjective

    Of a topological space: in which any two disjoint closed sets can be enclosed in disjoint open neighborhoods.
18. 18
    adjective

    Of a number: having digits that, in a given base, distribute every possible block of length n with equal frequency.
19. 19
    adjective

    Of a field extension: that arises as the splitting field of a family of polynomials over the base field K.
20. 20
    adjective

    (mathematics) Of an integral domain, ring, or scheme: integrally closed, or locally integrally closed at every prime or point.
21. 21
    adjective

    Of a family of complex functions: having compact closure, so that every sequence drawn from it contains a subsequence converging uniformly on each compact subset.
22. 22
    adjective

    Of a function on the ordinals: strictly increasing and continuous with respect to the order topology.
23. 23
    adjective

    Of a morphism, being the kernel or cokernel of some morphism; of a category, having only such monomorphisms and epimorphisms.