normal

Less common meanings

4. 4
   bell curveadjective

   Following the common bell-shaped pattern that many measurements make when you graph them.

   Like a hill that is highest in the middle and slopes down evenly on both sides.

   The heights of adults in a large group are roughly normal.

   If the measurement errors are normal, we can use the usual formulas to estimate them.

   SimilarGaussian

   Note
5. 5
   mainstream personnounslangcountable

   An ordinary person who fits in with mainstream society instead of living an alternative lifestyle.

   Like the one quiet guest at a party full of loud performers.

   The punk kids joked that a normal would never understand their music.

   At the punk show, my brother in his khakis looked like a total normal.

   UsageIt can sound a little unkind: just a normal.

   Similarsquare, conformist, normie

   Oppositenonconformist, bohemian, weirdo

   Note
6. 6
   at right angles toadjective

   Pointing straight out at a right angle from a curve or surface.

   Like a flagpole standing straight up from flat ground.

   The arrow points in a normal direction, straight out from the curved wall.

   Light hits the mirror along a line that is normal to its surface.

   UsageSay normal to a surface.

   Similarperpendicular, orthogonal

   Oppositeparallel

   Note
7. 7
   line pointing outnouncountable

   A line that points straight out at a right angle from a surface or another line.

   Like a pin stuck straight into a board, pointing away from it.

   Draw a normal to the line, crossing it at a right angle.

   The normal points straight away from the flat surface.

   Similarperpendicular

   Note
8. 8
   teacher trainingadjective

   Used to describe a school that trains people to become teachers.

   Like a driving school, but for people learning how to teach.

   Long ago, my great-grandmother trained to teach at a normal school.

   The town built a normal school to train new teachers.

   UsageUsually in the phrase normal school.

   Note
9. 9
   healthy personnouncountable

   A healthy person, used in medical studies as a comparison to someone who is sick.

   Like a healthy plant kept beside a sick one to show the difference.

   In the study, each patient was matched with a healthy normal of the same age.

   Doctors compared each patient's blood test with results from normals.

   UsageUsually plural, as in healthy normals. Do not use it in everyday talk.

   Similarcontrol

   Note
10. 10
    obsessedadjectiveslangsarcastic

    Very strongly interested in something, almost unable to think about anything else.

    Like someone who can't stop talking about their favorite hobby.

    He's completely normal about old trains and talks about nothing else.

    He is so normal about this band that he owns all twelve of their T-shirts.

    Similarobsessive, obsessed, fanatical, crazy

    Note
11. 11
    adjective

    Describing a railway switch or signal that is in its usual resting position, before anyone changes it.
12. 12
    adjective

    Describing a carbon compound whose atoms form one straight chain with no branches.
13. 13
    adjective

    Used to describe a solution that has a set amount, called one equivalent, of dissolved substance in each liter.
14. 14
    adjective

    Describing a steady pattern of vibration in which every part of an object shakes at the same rate.
15. 15
    adjective

    In math, describes a smaller group inside a larger one whose shifted copies also form a group.
16. 16
    adjective

    In maths, describes a matrix or operator that gives the same result whichever order it is combined with its adjoint.
17. 17
    adjective

    In math, describes a space where any two separate closed regions can be wrapped in open regions that do not overlap.
18. 18
    adjective

    Describing a number whose digits are spread so evenly that every block of digits shows up just as often as any other.
19. 19
    adjective

    In maths, describes an extended number system holding all roots of certain equations once it holds one.
20. 20
    adjective

    In maths, describes a ring or similar structure that is integrally closed, a technical property in algebra and geometry.
21. 21
    adjective

    Describing a group of math functions where every list of them has a part that settles toward one limit.
22. 22
    adjective

    In maths, describes a function on ordered numbers that always grows and never jumps past its limits.
23. 23
    adjective

    In maths, describes a map that is a kernel or cokernel, or a system with only such maps.