eccentricity

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun strange and unconventional behavior
noun (geometry) a ratio describing the shape of a conic section; the ratio of the distance between the foci to the length of the major axis
noun a circularity that has a different center or deviates from a circular path

Borrowed from Latin eccentricitās. By surface analysis, eccentric + -ity.

These innocent eccentricities please young people. — Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
They understood his other eccentricities better. — Tatterdemalion, John Galsworthy
“Eccentricities of genius,” declared Uncle Benjamin. — The Blue Castle: a novel, L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

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