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abnormal

[ab-nawr-muhl]

adjective

not normal, average, typical, or usual; deviating from a standard: abnormal powers of concentration; an abnormal amount of snow; abnormal behavior.

extremely or excessively large: abnormal profit.

Origin:
1850–55; ab- + normal; replacing anormal < Medieval Latin anōrmālus, variant of anōmālus anomalous influenced by Latin norma norm

Related forms

ab·nor·mal·ly, adverb

ab·nor·mal·ness, noun

su·per·ab·nor·mal, adjective

su·per·ab·nor·mal·ly, adverb

Can be confused: abnormal, subnormal.

Synonyms
1. anomalous, aberrant, irregular, deviant, unnatural, odd. See irregular.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Abnormal is always a great word to know.

So is abscess. Does it mean:

treating badly or injuriously

localized swollen collection of pus infected tissue of the body

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Example Sentences

Abnormal gait may be caused by diseases in many different areas of the body.

With the latest grants, researchers will sequence abnormal genes that may help cause cancer and other common diseases.

There's nothing abnormal about the recession's causes.

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Abnormal gait may be caused by diseases in many different areas of the body.

With the latest grants, researchers will sequence abnormal genes that may help cause cancer and other common diseases.

There's nothing abnormal about the recession's causes.

Formicola also noted that the girl had abnormal thigh bones that were bowed and shortened.

Then researchers spot something abnormal in your head.

If seeds germinated,the kids were to report any normal or abnormal growth due to mutations from radiation and/or lack of gravity.

Noelle is a veteran of countless abnormal deliveries with babies in the wrong position.

If a gene is abnormal, it may lead to an abnormal protein or an abnormal amount of a normal protein.

Lastly, they can check to see if the individuals involved share an abnormal variant of that gene.

But there is an abnormal weak spot in the planet's magnetic field at that point.

Some blood stem cells can develop into abnormal versions, although the immune system usually stamps them out.

Dystonias are abnormal involuntary muscle tone and movements in groups of muscles.

Urine of an abnormal color appears different from the usual straw-yellow color.

Caused by strong winds, a storm surge is an abnormal rise in sea level that can lead to coastal flooding.

If sarcoidosis affects the liver, then liver function could become abnormal.

If you think your doctor will automatically tell you if you have an abnormal test result, think again.

Cancer cells divide and reproduce at highly abnormal rates.

To find abnormal tissue in mammograms, radiologists have increasingly relied on computers to spot the potential tumors.

The fire-started clouds are abnormal in other ways too.

For example, yolk was present in male blood plasma, which is highly abnormal.

Then they look over the data for signs of abnormal sleep or frequent wake-ups.

These scientists in physics field are really mad, no wonder they do abnormal stuff.

Abnormal tooth color is any color other than the white to yellowish-white of normal teeth.

Psychopathy is characterized by aggression combined with abnormal lack of empathy for others.

Because if people congregated in some well-known metropolises,it would be an abnormal urbanization.

They will be used for studies of normal and abnormal human embryo development.

Official federal voting system standards require audit logs to record all normal and abnormal events that occur on the system.

These are lies spread by preachers who live dazed in some abnormal environment.

She had a hunch the chromosomally abnormal eggs that plague human pregnancies were tied to our hormones.

Sometimes the body manufactures abnormal hemoglobin, containing yet another combination of chains.

Another popular approach seeks to keep the brain from making the abnormal form of amyloid that creates the plaques.

All seizures are caused by abnormal electrical disturbances in the brain.

The researchers also determined she was not a dwarf or abnormal in any way, but perfectly proportioned for her size.

Abnormal uterine bleeding may also be related to other causes unrelated to the natural cycle or ovulation:.

Recent research has revealed abnormal patterns of brain activation in people who have experienced psychological trauma.

The abnormal gene dominates the outcome of the gene pair.

Abnormal sleeping patterns characterize an array of neuropsychiatric diseases, but resetting the body's.

Recessive inheritance occurs when both matching genes must be abnormal to produce disease.

If anyone is guilty that one is scientist who discovered modern equipment and abnormal aviarices of reading public.

Cervical dysplasia refers to abnormal changes in the cells on the surface of the cervix that are seen underneath a microscope.

If this system is overwhelmed with adrenaline, the heart can go into abnormal rhythms that are not compatible with life.

And similar abnormal responses have been found in adult monkeys reared by their mothers under stressful conditions.

Epileptic seizures are caused by abnormal electrical discharges that in some people spread from one hemisphere to the other.

Primary amyloidosis is a disorder in which abnormal proteins build up in tissues and organs.

Clumps of the abnormal proteins are called amyloid deposits.

The frequencies of brain waves can reveal abnormal patterns that help doctors diagnose epileptic seizures, coma, or brain death.

One study showed that genistein led to reduced fertility and abnormal embryo development in female mice.

They also expressed abnormal levels of proteins involved in neurodegenerative conditions.

Skin cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal skin cells.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

abnormal (æbˈnɔːməl)

—*adj*
1.	not normal; deviating from the usual or typical; extraordinary
2.	informal odd in behaviour or appearance; strange

[C19: ab-¹ + normal, replacing earlier anormal from Medieval Latin anormalus, a blend of Late Latin anōmalusanomalous + Latin abnormis departing from a rule]

ab'normally

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

abnormal

1835, replaced older anormal and abnormous (1742) under influence of L. abnormis "deviating from a rule," from ab- "off, away from" + norma "rule" (see norm). The older forms were via O.Fr. anormal (13c.), from M.L. anormalos, from Gk. anomalos, from an- "not" + homalos, from

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homos "same." The Gk. word was altered in Latin by association with norma.

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"In abnormal times like our own, when institutions are changing rapidly in several directions at once and the traditional framework of society has broken down, it becomes more and more difficult to measure any type of behavior against any other."

-John Dos Passos

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