Eccentricity
[,eksen'trɪsɪtɪ] or [,ɛksɛn'trɪsəti]
Definition
(noun.) strange and unconventional behavior.
(noun.) a circularity that has a different center or deviates from a circular path.
(noun.) (geometry) a ratio describing the shape of a conic section; the ratio of the distance between the foci to the length of the major axis; 'a circle is an ellipse with zero eccentricity'.
Typed by Lena--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The state of being eccentric; deviation from the customary line of conduct; oddity.
(n.) The ratio of the distance between the center and the focus of an ellipse or hyperbola to its semi-transverse axis.
(n.) The ratio of the distance of the center of the orbit of a heavenly body from the center of the body round which it revolves to the semi-transverse axis of the orbit.
(n.) The distance of the center of figure of a body, as of an eccentric, from an axis about which it turns; the throw.
Typed by Clarissa
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Irregularity, peculiarity, oddness, oddity, singularity, waywardness, strangeness, aberration.
Checked by Bernadette
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapacity.
Typed by Gordon
Examples
- Your eccentricity and conceit touch the verge of frenzy. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- There are some trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height, and then suddenly develop some unsightly eccentricity. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Caligula (37 to 41 A.D.) was insane, but the empire carried on during four years of eccentricity at its head. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Differences of temperature and density of the parts of the original mass account for the eccentricity of orbits, and deviations fro m the plane of the equator. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Polly and I were clinging to that hypothesis as the most lenient way of accounting for your eccentricity. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Darwin maintained that it is possible to make out a kind of cycle between greatest and least eccentricity of about 200,000 years. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- And measuring originality by deviation from the mass breeds eccentricity in them. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- On August 31 had appeared Leverrier's third paper, in which were stated the new planet's orbit, mass, distance from the sun, eccentricity, and l ongitude. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Not to revert again to that little eccentricity which I mentioned just now, I doubt if you take air and exercise enough, Frederick. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- A man who does that is always charged with eccentricity, inconsistency, and that kind of thing. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Besides, the eccentricity of the proceeding was piquant: I felt interested to see how he would go on. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Eccentricities of genius, Sam,' said Mr. Pickwick. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Emanuel's crotchets and eccentricities! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- We astonished them with such eccentricities of dress as we could muster. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Pesca was one of her especial favourites and his wildest eccentricities were always pardonable in her eyes. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- It seems at times as if our capacity for appreciating originality were absorbed in the trivial eccentricities of fads and fashions. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Editor: Patrick