Dictionary Definition
eccentric adj
1 conspicuously or grossly unconventional or
unusual; "restaurants of bizarre design--one like a hat, another
like a rabbit"; "famed for his eccentric spelling"; "a freakish
combination of styles"; "his off-the-wall antics"; "the outlandish
clothes of teenagers"; "outre and affected stage antics" [syn:
bizarre, freakish, freaky, flaky, off-the-wall,
outlandish, outre]
2 not having a common center; not concentric;
"eccentric circles" [syn: nonconcentric] [ant:
concentric]
Noun
2 a person of a specified kind (usually with many
eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character"; "a
friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case" [syn:
character, type, case]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From Latin eccentricus, literally out of centre, from Greek: ekkentros, not having the same centre.Pronunciation
- /ɪkˈsɛntrɪk/ (RP)
- /ɛkˈsɛntrɪk/ (US)
Adjective
- Not at or in the centre.
- Not perfectly
circular
- an eccentric or elliptical orbit
- Having a different center.
- Deviating from the norm; behaving unexpectedly or
differently.
- "He has become really eccentric over the years."
- (of a motion) against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle. (E.g. flexion of the lower arm while flexing the tricep; opening of the jaw while flexing the masseter). (Antonym: concentric)
Synonyms
Quotations
- 1956 — Arthur C.
Clarke, The City and the Stars, p 40
- Khedron was the only other person in the city who could be called eccentric.
Translations
Not at or in the centre
- German: exzentrisch
Not perfectly circular
Having a different center
Deviating from the norm
- Czech: výstřední
- Finnish: eksentrinen, omalaatuinen
- German: exzentrisch
(physiology) (of a motion) against or in the
opposite direction of contraction of a muscle
- ttbc Spanish: excéntrico m, excéntrica f
Noun
Translations
off-centre wheel
- Finnish: epäkesko
person who does not behave like others
- Finnish: eksentrikko
- German: Exzentriker , Exzentrikerin
Related terms
Extensive Definition
Eccentricity may refer to:
- Eccentricity (behavior), unusual or odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal"
- Eccentricity (mathematics), a parameter associated with every conic section
- Eccentricity vector
- Eccentricity (graph theory) of a vertex in a graph
- Eccentric contraction, lengthening of muscle fibers
- Eccentric (mechanism), a wheel that rotates on an axle that is displaced from the focus of the circle described by the wheel
- Eccentric position of a surveying tripod to be able to measure hidden points
- Orbital eccentricity, in astrodynamics, calculated from orbital state vectors as an absolute value of eccentricity vector or using other methods based on orbital energy and angular momentum.
- Eccentric anomaly, the angle between the direction of periapsis and the current position of an object on its orbit.
- Eccentric (astronomy), a type of deferent, a circle or sphere used in obsolete astronomical systems to carry a planet around the Earth or Sun.
eccentric in Tosk Albanian: Exzentrizität
eccentric in Danish: Excentricitet
eccentric in German: Exzentrizität
eccentric in French: Excentricité
eccentric in Italian: Eccentricità
eccentric in Hebrew: אקסצנטריות
eccentric in Dutch: Excentriek
eccentric in Low German: Exzentrizität
(Mehrdüdig Begreep)
eccentric in Portuguese: Excentricidade
eccentric in Romanian: Excentricitate
eccentric in Thai: ความเยื้องศูนย์กลาง
eccentric in Turkish: Dışmerkezlik
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
aberrant, abnormal, absurd, adrift, afloat, alien, alternating, amorphous, amusing, anomalistic, anomalous, beezer, bizarre, bohemian, broken, capricious, careening, case, catchy, caution, changeable, changeful, character, choppy, coot, crackpot, crank, crankish, cranky, crotchety, curious, desultory, deviable, deviant, deviative, different, dippy, disconnected, discontinuous, dissenter, divergent, dizzy, dotty, droll, duck, erratic, exceptionable, exceptional, fanatic, fantastic, fast and loose,
fey, fickle, fitful, flake, flaky, flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuating, formless, freak, freaked out, freakish, freaky, funny, giddy, grotesque, guttering, halting, heretic, herky-jerky, hermit, heteroclite, heteromorphic, hilarious, hobo, humorous, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, immethodical, impetuous, impulsive, incongruous, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, infirm, intermittent, intermitting, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, jerky, kinky, kook, kooky, laughable, lone wolf, loner, ludicrous, lurching, maggoty, maverick, mazy, mercurial, meshuggenah, moody, natural, nonconformist, nonuniform, nut, nutty, odd, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, off, off the wall, off-balance,
off-center, original,
out, outlandish, outsider, pariah, passing strange, patchy, peculiar, priceless, quaint, queer, queer duck, queer fish,
queer specimen, quirky,
quiz, quizzical, rambling, rara avis, recluse, restless, rich, ridiculous, risible, rough, roving, scatterbrained, scrappy, screaming, screwball, screwy, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, singular, snatchy, solitary, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, spastic, spineless, spook, sporadic, spotty, staggering, strange, strange duck, stray, straying, subnormal, tramp, twisted, type, unaccountable, unbalanced, uncentered, uncertain, unconformist, uncontrolled, unconventional, undependable, undisciplined, unearthly, unequal, uneven, unfixed, unmethodical, unmetrical, unnatural, unpredictable, unregular, unreliable, unrestrained, unrhythmical, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water,
unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsystematic, vacillating, vagrant, variable, veering, vicissitudinary,
vicissitudinous,
volatile, wacky, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, weird, weirdo, whimsical, wishy-washy,
witty, wobbling, wobbly, wondrous strange,
zealot, zombie