Definition: an irregularity or peculiarity that deviates from normal expectations and can be difficult to identify or classify--something odd or unusual

Synonyms: peculiarity, abnormality, deviation, oddity, irregularity, curiosity, discrepancy, exception, aberration

Antonyms: normalcy, constancy, regularity

Tips: Anomaly is often used in statistics to describe an occurrence that seems out of the norm or unexplainable. See enigma for additional analysis of anomaly.

Usage Examples:

I don't think we need to worry about that happening again; it was just a one time anomaly. (irregularity, discrepancy)

I don't think we can explain the precipitous drop in sales last month; now that sales have increased back to normal, I think the drop was just an anomaly. (abnormality, exception)

The cardiologist was looking for anomalies that might indicate heart disease in the patient's blood. (irregularities, abnormalities)

I have diligently researched every possible answer for why our network crashed, and I have come up empty handed; I'm convinced it was an unexplainable anomaly. (oddity, irregularity)

An anomaly is any occurrence or object that is strange, unusual, or unique. It can also mean a discrepancy or deviation from an established rule or trend.

Anomalistics is the study of scientific anomalies. In computer science, anomaly detection refers to the process of detecting anomalies from the relevant data.

In the following particular contexts, "anomaly" may refer to:

Astronomy

Eccentric anomaly, intermediate value used to compute the position of a celestial object as a function of time

Flyby anomaly, unexpected energy increase during Earth flybys of satellites

Mean anomaly, measure of time in the study of orbital dynamics

Pioneer anomaly, observed deviation of the trajectories of various unmanned spacecraft

South Atlantic Anomaly, region where Earth's inner van Allen radiation belt makes its closest approach to the planet's surface

True anomaly, angle between the direction of periapsis and the current position of an object on its orbit.

Geophysics

Bouguer anomaly, anomaly in gravimetry

Free-air anomaly, gravity anomaly that has been computed for latitude and corrected for elevation of the station

Gravity anomaly, difference between the observed gravity and a value predicted from a model

Iridium anomaly, very rare element in the Earth's crust

Magnetic anomaly, local variation in the Earth's magnetic field

Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, territory rich in iron ores located within Kursk Oblast, Belgorod Oblast, and Oryol Oblast

Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, large buried geologic structure in the Temagami region of Ontario, Canada