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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

deviate.

To go off course from; to change course; to change plans.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈdiː.vi.eɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdi.vi.eɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈdiː.vi.æɪt/Australia[ˈdɪi.vi.æɪt]Australia
  1. To go off course from; to change course; to change plans.

    intransitive
  2. To fall outside of, or part from, some norm; to stray.

    figuratively · intransitive
    His exhibition of nude paintings deviated from the norm.
  3. To cause to diverge.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Late Latin dēviātus, perfect passive participle of dēviō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more. Compare French dévier.

noun/ˈdiː.vi.ət/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdi.vi.ət/Canada, General-American/ˈdiː.vi.ət/Australia[ˈdɪi.vi.ət]Australia
  1. A person with deviant behaviour; a deviant, degenerate or pervert.

  2. A value equal to the difference between a measured variable factor and a fixed or algorithmic reference value.

Where this word comes from

From a substantivation of Late Latin dēviātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.

adj/ˈdiː.vi.ət/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdi.vi.ət/Canada, General-American/ˈdiː.vi.ət/Australia[ˈdɪi.vi.ət]Australia
  1. deviant

Where this word comes from

From Late Latin dēviātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.