adjective

• Deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying.

  ‘the illness is recognizable from the patient's abnormal behaviour’

  More example sentences

  • ‘participants with abnormal results were invited to undergo further diagnostic testing’
  • ‘Every episode marked him, though there is no evidence of any abnormal behaviour.’
  • ‘His life has been so abnormal it is no surprise that he has such unusual views.’
  • ‘The boy told the court his behaviour had been abnormal and not the sort of thing he wanted to do in the future.’
  • ‘As far as I can judge he sees nothing abnormal or peculiar about any part of this routine.’
  • ‘All women are supposedly naturally maternal and any woman who rejects this role is seen as deviant and abnormal.’
  • ‘Crime, rather than being abnormal and uncommon, may be considered a routine part of life.’
  • ‘The condition is rare and is caused by the inheritance of an abnormal gene from an affected parent.’
  • ‘Fusion in this case is somewhat of a worry because these are highly abnormal cells.’
  • ‘My greatest work was the reconstruction of a congenitally abnormal heart.’
  • ‘The abnormal hike in fuel prices leads to increase in prices of essential commodities.’
  • ‘His abnormal memory power is not restricted just to the game, but aids him in his office work.’
  • ‘Cells normally divide in a controlled way, but abnormal cells keep on dividing, which can form a lump.’
  • ‘Some abnormal smears do in fact revert to normal without treatment, but some go on to become cancerous.’
  • ‘A true food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by the immune system.’
  • ‘Seabed sensors detect abnormal wave movements and relay the information to scientists.’
  • ‘The demand for tickets had been abnormal, and the committee had to refuse a great number who applied.’
  • ‘She speculated that abnormal electrical activity in the heart or brain may have been the reason.’
  • ‘Interferon is produced naturally in the body and helps fight infection or abnormal cells.’
  • ‘The level was so high that a second reading was taken and although this was lower it was still so abnormal as to be fatal.’
  • ‘MPs live quite an abnormal life, and a lot of the time they are away from home.’

  Synonyms

  unusual, uncommon, atypical, untypical, non-typical, unrepresentative, rare, isolated, irregular, anomalous, deviant, deviating, divergent, wayward, aberrant, freak, freakish

  View synonyms