eccentricity
/ˌɛksɛnˈtrɪsɪti
/noun (plural eccentricities) [mass noun]
1The quality of being eccentric: the eccentricity of his views...
- The important thing here isn't eccentricity; it's quality, and that's where this disk scores big.
- But her trademark eccentricity, it seems, sells.
- McEwan is younger and more energetic than the previous Marple, Joan Hickson, and this is a good thing: the character's eccentricity can be played more effectively.
1.1 [count noun] (usually eccentricities) An eccentric act or habit: her eccentricities were amusing rather than irritating...
- The London Daily Telegraph pioneered some years ago a franker approach to obituary writing in which journalists were prepared to write about the failings and eccentricities, as well as the virtues, of their subjects.
- Even though we know that eventually we'll be moving on, inevitably we settle into the life of a community, we make friends, we get used to people and they get used to us - our eccentricities, our idiosyncrasies.
- With his flair and instinct for comedy, he became famous in the ‘screwball comedy’ genre, which was all about the foibles and eccentricities of people.
Synonyms
unconventionality, unorthodoxy, singularity, oddness, queerness, strangeness, weirdness, bizarreness, quirkiness, freakishness, extraordinariness;
peculiarity, irregularity, abnormality, anomaly, foible, idiosyncrasy, caprice, whimsy, quirk
informal nuttiness, dottiness, screwiness, freakiness, wackiness, crankiness, zaniness
North American informal kookiness
2 technical Deviation of a curve or orbit from circularity.The eccentricity of the planetary orbits is small....
- Because of the eccentricity of Mercury's orbit, the variation in the proper motion of the Sun would be noticeable to an observer on the planet.
- Then, the extrasolar planets orbit much closer to their host stars and have a greater orbital eccentricity than the planets in our solar system.
2.1 [count noun] A measure of the extent of deviation from circularity: Halley’s Comet has an eccentricity of about 0.9675...
- Its orbit is the most nearly circular of that of any planet, with an eccentricity of less than 1 per cent.
- Note that these angular sizes were calculated using the average eccentricity of the lunar orbit.
- Note that these angular sizes were calculated using the average eccentricity of the lunar orbit.