eccentricity

(ĕk'sĕn-trĭs'ĭ-tē)
n., pl., -ties.

1. 1. The quality of being eccentric.
   2. Deviation from the normal, expected, or established.
2. An example or instance of eccentric behavior.
3. Physics. The distance between the center of an eccentric and its axis.
4. Mathematics. The ratio of the distance of any point on a conic section from a focus to its distance from the corresponding directrix. This ratio is constant for any particular conic section.

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A value that defines the shape of an ellipse, such as a planetary orbit. The eccentricity of an ellipse is the ratio of the distance between the foci and the major axis. Equivalently, the eccentricity of an orbit is (r_a − rp)/ (r_a + r_p) where r_a is the apoapsis distance and r_p is the periapsis distance.

noun

Peculiar behavior: idiosyncrasy, peculiarity, quirk, quirkiness, singularity. See usual/unusual.

n

Definition: bizarreness, unusualness
Antonyms: commonality, dullness, normality, regularness, standard, uniformity, usual, usualness

The measure of the degree of elongation of an ellipse. For example, a circle has an eccentricy of 0, and a parabola (an open figure) an eccentricity of 1.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapacity.

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Quotes:

"You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds." - Henry David Thoreau

"So long as a man rides his Hobby-Horse peaceably and quietly along the King's highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him -- pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?" - Laurence Sterne

"Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd." - Dame Edith Sitwell

"Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained." - John Stuart Mill

"The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time." - John Stuart Mill

"The lunatic fringe wags the underdog." - H. L. Mencken

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For a list of words related to eccentricity, see:

• Branches, Laws, Theories, and Techniques - eccentricity: scale that expresses degree of flattening of elliptical orbit, with zero being circular and one being perfectly elliptical
• Quantities, Relationships, and Operations - eccentricity: number used to define form of a conic section as an ellipse, circle, parabola, or hyperbola
• Agitation, Abnormality, and Instability - eccentricity: bizarre or abnormal, but harmless, activity

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