Adjacent Words

Eccentric definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ECCEN'TRIC,
ECCEN'TRICAL, a. [L. eccentricus; ex, from , and centrum, center.]
1. Deviating or departing from the center.
2. In geometry, not having the same center; a term applied to circles and spheres which have not the same center, and consequently are not parallel; in opposition to concentric,having a common center.
3. Not terminating in the same point, nor directed by the same principle.
4. Deviating from stated methods, usual practice or established forms or laws; irregular; anomalous, departing from the usual course; as eccentric conduct; eccentric virtue; an eccentric genius.
ECCEN'TRIC, n. A circle not having the same center as another.
1. That which is irregular or anomalous.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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, eccentric, freakish, freaky, flaky, flakey, gonzo, off- the-wall, outlandish, outre]
2: not having a common center; not concentric; "eccentric circles" [syn: eccentric, nonconcentric] [ant: concentric, concentrical, homocentric] n
1: a person with an unusual or odd personality [syn: eccentric, eccentric person, flake, oddball, geek]
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, eccentric, type, case]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin eccentricus, from Greek ekkentros, from ex out of + kentron center Date: circa 1630 1. a. deviating from an established or usual pattern or style <eccentric products> b. deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways <an eccentric millionaire> 2. a. deviating from a circular path; especially elliptical 1 <an eccentric orbit> b. located elsewhere than at the geometrical center; also having the axis or support so located <an eccentric wheel> Synonyms: see strange • eccentrically adverb II. noun Date: 1827 1. a mechanical device consisting of an eccentric disk communicating its motion to a rod so as to produce reciprocating motion 2. an eccentric person

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 odd or capricious in behaviour or appearance; whimsical. 2 a not placed, not having its axis etc. placed centrally. b (often foll. by to) (of a circle) not concentric (to another). c (of an orbit) not circular. --n. 1 an eccentric person. 2 Mech. an eccentric contrivance for changing rotatory into backward-and-forward motion, e.g. the cam used in an internal-combustion engine. Derivatives: eccentrically adv. eccentricity n. (pl. -ies). Etymology: LL eccentricus f. Gk ekkentros f. ek out of + kentros CENTRE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Eccentric Ec*cen"tric, n. 1. A circle not having the same center as another contained in some measure within the first. 2. One who, or that which, deviates from regularity; an anomalous or irregular person or thing. 3. (Astron.) (a) In the Ptolemaic system, the supposed circular orbit of a planet about the earth, but with the earth not in its center. (b) A circle described about the center of an elliptical orbit, with half the major axis for radius. --Hutton. 4. (Mach.) A disk or wheel so arranged upon a shaft that the center of the wheel and that of the shaft do not coincide. It is used for operating valves in steam engines, and for other purposes. The motion derived is precisely that of a crank having the same throw. Back eccentric, the eccentric that reverses or backs the valve gear and the engine. Fore eccentric, the eccentric that imparts a forward motion to the valve gear and the engine.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Eccentric Ec*cen"tric, a. [F. excentrique, formerly also spelled eccentrique, fr. LL. eccentros out of the center, eccentric, Gr. ?; ? out of + ? center. See Ex-, and Center, and cf. Excentral.] 1. Deviating or departing from the center, or from the line of a circle; as, an eccentric or elliptical orbit; pertaining to deviation from the center or from true circular motion. 2. Not having the same center; -- said of circles, ellipses, spheres, etc., which, though coinciding, either in whole or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same center; -- opposed to concentric. 3. (Mach.) Pertaining to an eccentric; as, the eccentric rod in a steam engine. 4. Not coincident as to motive or end. His own ends, which must needs be often eccentric to those of his master. --Bacon. 5. Deviating from stated methods, usual practice, or established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct. ``This brave and eccentric young man.'' --Macaulay. He shines eccentric, like a comet's blaze. --Savage. Eccentric anomaly. (Astron.) See Anomaly. Eccentric chuck (Mach.), a lathe chuck so constructed that the work held by it may be altered as to its center of motion, so as to produce combinations of eccentric combinations of eccentric circles. Eccentric gear. (Mach.) (a) The whole apparatus, strap, and other parts, by which the motion of an eccentric is transmitted, as in the steam engine. (b) A cogwheel set to turn about an eccentric axis used to give variable rotation. Eccentric hook or gab, a hook-shaped journal box on the end of an eccentric rod, opposite the strap. Eccentric rod, the rod that connects as eccentric strap with any part to be acted upon by the eccentric. Eccentric sheave, or Eccentric pulley, an eccentric. Eccentric strap, the ring, operating as a journal box, that encircles and receives motion from an eccentric; -- called also eccentric hoop. Syn: Irregular; anomalous; singular; odd; peculiar; erratic; idiosyncratic; strange; whimsical.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Eccentric Ec*cen"tric, a. [F. excentrique, formerly also spelled eccentrique, fr. LL. eccentros out of the center, eccentric, Gr. ?; ? out of + ? center. See Ex-, and Center, and cf. Excentral.] 1. Deviating or departing from the center, or from the line of a circle; as, an eccentric or elliptical orbit; pertaining to deviation from the center or from true circular motion. 2. Not having the same center; -- said of circles, ellipses, spheres, etc., which, though coinciding, either in whole or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same center; -- opposed to concentric. 3. (Mach.) Pertaining to an eccentric; as, the eccentric rod in a steam engine. 4. Not coincident as to motive or end. His own ends, which must needs be often eccentric to those of his master. --Bacon. 5. Deviating from stated methods, usual practice, or established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct. ``This brave and eccentric young man.'' --Macaulay. He shines eccentric, like a comet's blaze. --Savage. Eccentric anomaly. (Astron.) See Anomaly. Eccentric chuck (Mach.), a lathe chuck so constructed that the work held by it may be altered as to its center of motion, so as to produce combinations of eccentric combinations of eccentric circles. Eccentric gear. (Mach.) (a) The whole apparatus, strap, and other parts, by which the motion of an eccentric is transmitted, as in the steam engine. (b) A cogwheel set to turn about an eccentric axis used to give variable rotation. Eccentric hook or gab, a hook-shaped journal box on the end of an eccentric rod, opposite the strap. Eccentric rod, the rod that connects as eccentric strap with any part to be acted upon by the eccentric. Eccentric sheave, or Eccentric pulley, an eccentric. Eccentric strap, the ring, operating as a journal box, that encircles and receives motion from an eccentric; -- called also eccentric hoop. Syn: Irregular; anomalous; singular; odd; peculiar; erratic; idiosyncratic; strange; whimsical.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(eccentrics) If you say that someone is eccentric, you mean that they behave in a strange way, and have habits or opinions that are different from those of most people. He is an eccentric character who likes wearing a beret and dark glasses. = odd ADJ • An eccentric is an eccentric person. On first impressions it would be easy to dismiss Duke as an eccentric. N-COUNT • eccentrically ...painters, eccentrically dressed and already half drunk. ADV

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Without a centre, deviating from the centre, deviating from a circle. 2. With different centres, non-concentric. 3. Irregular, abnormal, anomalous, peculiar, uncommon, unnatural, singular, strange, wayward, odd, aberrant, erratic, whimsical.

Moby Thesaurus

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