aberrant
departing from the usual course
Roots
- ab / abs: away, from, off, down, or apart
- err / errare: wander, stray, or go off course
Other words with the err / errare root
- aberration: a departure from what is normal or expected
- err: to make a mistake or go wrong
- errant: wandering, straying, or behaving wrongly
- erratic: irregular or unpredictable
- error: a mistake or departure from correctness
Ab- gives away and err gives wander. Aberrant behavior wanders away from the normal path.
One aberrant result forced the lab to rerun the whole experiment.
Aberrant is not just odd. It is off-course: a result, behavior, or pattern has wandered away from what you expected. Error and errant make the wander image easier to feel.