Meaning & use
deviancy
Last updated
Behavior that departs significantly from accepted social norms or standards.
See it in a sentence
Sociologists studied patterns of deviancy in the small town over several decades.
The report examined how labeling youth as deviancy can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A note on using this word
Largely interchangeable with "deviance," though "deviance" is somewhat more common in academic sociology.
Words with a similar meaning
deviancenonconformity
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
conformitynormalcy
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deviancy”, then compare your use with the examples above.
Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.