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“abnormal”
abnormal (adjective), more abnormal, most abnormal
1. Not average, nor typical; irregular, deviant: Richard had abnormal powers of concentration despite the distractions that were going on around him.
2. Unusual or unexpected, especially in a way that causes alarm or anxiety: The abnormal extremes in weather conditions are causing officials to declare mandatory evacuations which is resulting in a great deal of stress for residents in certain areas of the world.
3. Pertaining to something much greater than expected or usual: Abnormal profits might be blamed for the financial crisis that exists in the present time.
4. Regarding a departure from what is typical or what is usually expected, for example in intelligence and physical development: The parents were very distressed when they found out that their daughter was considered to be intellectually abnormal in school.
2. Unusual or unexpected, especially in a way that causes alarm or anxiety: The abnormal extremes in weather conditions are causing officials to declare mandatory evacuations which is resulting in a great deal of stress for residents in certain areas of the world.
3. Pertaining to something much greater than expected or usual: Abnormal profits might be blamed for the financial crisis that exists in the present time.
4. Regarding a departure from what is typical or what is usually expected, for example in intelligence and physical development: The parents were very distressed when they found out that their daughter was considered to be intellectually abnormal in school.
The abnormal circumstances surrounding Gertrude's decision to travel caused a great deal of concern for her parents.
The neighbor's cat has an abnormal fear of birds.
5. Etymology: This word was once spelled anormal and it came from the Greek anomalos, meaning irregular. Later the b was added by analogy with the Latin word for irregular, abnormis from Latin ab-, "from" + norma, "norm"; and so, "away from the norm".Abnormal can mean either "below normal" or "above normal"; so, either better or worse than normal: Einstein had an abnormal IQ while an ignorant person also has an abnormal IQ. On the other hand, "subnormal" always means below or worse than normal.
This entry is located in the following units:
a-, ab-, abs-
(page 5)
-al; -ial, -eal
(page 4)
norm-, normo-
(page 1)
Units related to:
“abnormal”
(Greek: different, of or belonging to another; foreign, strange; abnormal; perverse)
(Greek: irregular, uneven; abnormal)
(Greek: different, other, another, unlike; irregular, abnormal)
(Latin: bad, badly, harsh, wrong; ill; evil; abnormal, defective; used primarily as a prefix)
(Greek: by the side of, beside, past, beyond; contrary, wrong, irregular, abnormal)
(an abnormal desire to eat "unnatural" things for food)
(Latin: pipe; an abnormal passage or communication, usually between two internal organs, or leading from an internal organ to the surface of the body)
(Latin: protruded viscus; rupture; in the sense of "protrusion of tissue or part of an organ through an abnormal opening in the surrounding walls")
(Greek: above, over; excessive; more than normal; abnormal excess [in medicine]; abnormally great or powerful sensation [in physical or pathological terms]; highest [in chemical compounds])
(Greek, ismos; Latin, ismus: a suffix: belief in, practice of, condition of, process, characteristic behavior or manner, abnormal state, distinctive feature or trait)
(Greek: speech, babbling, chattering; abnormal or disordered forms of speech)
(Greek: soft, softness; abnormal softening, soft-bodied)
(Greek: a specific mental disorder or obsessive preoccupation with something; madness, frenzy; obsession, or abnormal desire for or with something or someone; also, an excessive enthusiasm or fondness for something that is not safe or advantageous)
(Greek > Latin: a suffix; actor, process, condition, or state of; result of; expresses a state or abnormal condition or process of some disease)
(Greek > Modern Latin: abnormal reduction, decrease in, insufficient, deficiency. Originally, the meaning was poverty, need; sometimes it is erroneously or incorrectly rendered as -poenia)
(an abnormal way of getting warm in the freezing conditions of a Canadian winter as expressed by Robert Service)
(Greek: many, much; excessive; abnormal amount, profuse, ample, large quantity; multiple, abundant, numerous)
Word Entries containing the term:
“abnormal”
A dulled, unpleasant, or altered feeling that exists without an obvious stimulus: One example of an abnormal sensation is when a person has a burning feeling when there is no heat involved.
Abnormal sensations can result from damage to, or a pressure on, certain nerve pathways.
The most common types of abnormal sensations are tinnitus or numbness and/or feelings as if one is stuck with pins and needles. Sometimes such a sensation is combined with pain and even with a feeling of being very cold or a feeling of severe burning.
This entry is located in the following unit:
senso-, sens-, sensi-, sensori-, sent-
(page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words:
“abnormal”
abnormal
Deviating from the usual structure, position, condition, or behavior.
In referring to a growth, abnormal may mean that it is cancerous or premalignant; that is, likely to become cancer.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Computerized Axial Tomography, CAT, or Computed Tomography, CT Terms +
(page 1)
abnormal (ab NOR muhl) (adjective), more abnormal, most abnormal
1. A reference to something that is exceptional, uncommon, or unexpected: Sam's cat has an abnormal fear of birds.
Einstein is said to have had an abnormal IQ.
2. Descriptive of something that is unusual: An abnormal amount of snow fell in October.Abnormal can mean either below or above normal, either better or worse than normal; while, "subnormal" always means below or worse than normal.
3. Etymology: from anormal which came from the Greek anomalos, "irregular". Later the b was added by analogy with the Latin word for irregular, abnormis, based on Latin ab-, "from" + norma, "norm"; hence "away from the norm".
This entry is located in the following unit:
English Words in Action, Group A
(page 2)
(examples of how words can be applied in abnormal ways)