An abnormality; a departure: "Vice was a deviation from our nature"(Henry Fielding).
Deviant behavior or attitudes.
Divergence from an accepted political policy or party line.
Deflection of a compass needle caused by local magnetic influence, especially on a ship.
Statistics The difference, especially the absolute difference, between one number in a set and the mean of the set.
de'vi·a'tion·ism n., de'vi·a'tion·ist adj. & n.
Synonyms: These nouns mean a departure from what is prescribed or expected: tolerates no deviation from the rules; regretted the aberrations of my adolescence; the divergence of two cultures.
a variation that deviates from the standard or norm; "the deviation from the mean"
2.
the difference between an observed value and the expected value of a variable or function
3.
the error of a compass due to local magnetic disturbances
4.
deviate behavior
5.
a turning aside (of your course or attention or concern); "a diversion from the main highway"; "a digression into irrelevant details"; "a deflection from his goal" [syn: diversion]
Main Entry: de·vi·a·tion Pronunciation: "dE-vE-'A-sh&n Function: noun : an act or instance of diverging from an established way or
in a new direction: as a: evolutionary differentiation involving interpolation of new stages in the ancestral pattern of morphogenesis b: noticeable or marked
departure from accepted norms of behavior
De`vi*a"tion\, n. [LL. deviatio: cf. F. d['e]viation.]1. The act of deviating; a wandering from the way; variation from the common way, from an established rule, etc.; departure, as from the right course or the path of duty. 2. The state or result of having deviated; a transgression; an act of sin; an error; an offense. 2. (Com.) The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility. Deviation of a falling body (Physics), that deviation from a strictly vertical line of descent which occurs in a body falling freely, in consequence of the rotation of the earth. Deviation of the compass, the angle which the needle of a ship's compass makes with the magnetic meridian by reason of the magnetism of the iron parts of the ship. Deviation of the line of the vertical, the difference between the actual direction of a plumb line and the direction it would have if the earth were a perfect ellipsoid and homogeneous, -- caused by the attraction of a mountain, or irregularities in the earth's density.
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