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Aberration   /ˌæbərˈeɪʃən/   Listen
noun
Aberration  n.  
1.
The act of wandering; deviation, especially from truth or moral rectitude, from the natural state, or from a type. "The aberration of youth." "Aberrations from theory."
2.
A partial alienation of reason. "Occasional aberrations of intellect." "Whims, which at first are the aberrations of a single brain, pass with heat into epidemic form."
3.
(Astron.) A small periodical change of position in the stars and other heavenly bodies, due to the combined effect of the motion of light and the motion of the observer; called annual aberration, when the observer's motion is that of the earth in its orbit, and daily or diurnal aberration, when of the earth on its axis; amounting when greatest, in the former case, to 20.4'', and in the latter, to 0.3''. Planetary aberration is that due to the motion of light and the motion of the planet relative to the earth.
4.
(Opt.) The convergence to different foci, by a lens or mirror, of rays of light emanating from one and the same point, or the deviation of such rays from a single focus; called spherical aberration, when due to the spherical form of the lens or mirror, such form giving different foci for central and marginal rays; and chromatic aberration, when due to different refrangibilities of the colored rays of the spectrum, those of each color having a distinct focus.
5.
(Physiol.) The passage of blood or other fluid into parts not appropriate for it.
6.
(Law) The producing of an unintended effect by the glancing of an instrument, as when a shot intended for A glances and strikes B.
Synonyms: Insanity; lunacy; madness; derangement; alienation; mania; dementia; hallucination; illusion; delusion. See Insanity.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Aberration" Quotes from Famous Books



... handsome workshop with a lathe; he was a turner! As subsidiary to this pursuit, he took up a fancy for making collections. Philosophical doctors, devoted to the study of madness, regard this tendency towards collecting as a first degree of mental aberration when it is set on small things. The Baron de Watteville treasured shells and geological fragments of the neighborhood of Besancon. Some contradictory folk, especially women, would say of Monsieur de Watteville, ...
— Albert Savarus • Honore de Balzac

... renowned amongst them, of the laws which they acknowledged to be essential to their own and the general happiness and wellbeing. But the severest critic of the Frog race could not detect in their manners a single aberration from the moral law tacitly recognised by themselves. And what, after all, can be the profit of civilisation if superiority in moral conduct be not the aim for which it strives, and the test by which its progress ...
— The Coming Race • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... this is what she called it, and we believed it to be German for piebald horse—from which a peon had dismounted. This horse must have reminded her of the circus-riders of her childhood (or possibly her action was owing to temporary aberration); anyhow, without a word of warning, she leapt astride the native saddle and gave a short display of how it should be done. However, fortunately from her point of view, though disappointingly from that of the spectators, the piebald animal had not been trained to circus ...
— Argentina From A British Point Of View • Various

... stood still, bewildered, as if I'd walked into a dream, beguiled by a false clue of boots; and during my few seconds of temporary aberration my dazed eyes fell upon a book which lay on the table. It was Sir Lionel's "Morte d'Arthur" (second volume; he's lent me the first), and in it for a marker was a glove of mine. I'd lost it at Torquay, after we had our dear, ...
— Set in Silver • Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

... gravity, and will not have either its rest or motion disturbed by any irregularities lying in the direction of that line, which may be safely supposed the case with our earth. The simple addition of any fluid matter to a body so circumstanced, will not cause any aberration, as it will distribute itself in the parts nearest to the centre of gravity, without regard to the centre of the body, which may or may not be the same. The principal tracts of both land and sea may be held to extend from the North towards the South Pole, and are accordingly in the direction ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 14 • Robert Kerr


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