Meaning & use
oddity
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Meanings
nouncountable
A thing, event or feature that is strange because it does not fit what is normal or expected.
Grammar: Countable: an oddity, several oddities.
Patterns
- an oddity of something
- an oddity about something
One oddity of the old house was a staircase that led to a blank wall.
It is an oddity of English that the word read has two pronunciations.
The museum displays natural oddities, like a two-headed snake.
nouncountableinformal
A person with unusual habits or character, often kindly seen as eccentric.
Grammar: Countable and applied to people; sometimes slightly teasing.
Patterns
- something of an oddity
In a town of farmers, the retired poet was something of an oddity.
He was a local oddity who walked everywhere with a parrot on his shoulder.
She did not mind being the class oddity.
noununcountableformal
The state or quality of being strange or unusual.
Grammar: Uncountable when naming the quality rather than a thing.
Patterns
- the oddity of something
Visitors noticed the oddity of eating dinner at midnight.
The oddity of the situation made everyone laugh.
He reflected on the oddity of meeting an old friend in a foreign airport.
Word forms
| plural | oddities |
|---|
Common combinations
- a minor oddity
- The lack of a front door was only a minor oddity.
- an oddity of
- It is an oddity of the law that it differs between neighbouring towns.
- something of an oddity
- A tall, silent actor was something of an oddity in comedy.
- a statistical oddity
- The result was just a statistical oddity, not a trend.
- a curious oddity
- The tiny church is a curious oddity among the glass towers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- peculiarity
- Peculiarity stresses a distinctive feature belonging to a person or thing, and is slightly more formal than oddity.
- curiosity
- Curiosity suggests something interesting enough to attract attention, while oddity only stresses that it is unusual.
- eccentric
- Eccentric refers only to a person whose behavior is unconventional, whereas oddity can be a thing or an event.
- anomaly
- Anomaly is more technical and suggests a departure from a rule or pattern.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: oddity or oddment? oddity or oddity vs odds?
oddity vs oddment
An oddment is a leftover piece or odd item, such as a scrap of fabric, not something strange.
oddity vs oddity vs odds
Odds are the chances of something happening, an unrelated meaning.
Practice
The two-headed calf at the fair was a real ___.
Choose one answer.
An oddity is something strange and unusual. An oddment is a leftover scrap, and norm and routine mean the opposite of unusual.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “oddity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.