deviate
Other forms: deviated; deviating; deviates
If something turns off course or is diverted, it deviates from the expected or the norm. Deviating from explicit recipe directions is never a good idea, unless you want inedible food or a kitchen fire.
The verb deviate can refer to divergence from a predicted path or road ("the airplane's route deviated from the flight plan"), but it can also refer to a divergence from normal behavior or expectations. When women demanded the right to vote, their behavior was considered shocking and deviated from the expectations of the time.
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turn aside; turn away from
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cause to turn away from a previous or expected course“The river was deviated to prevent flooding”types:perturbcause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pullperturbdisturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atomshuntprovide with or divert by means of an electrical shunttype of:divertsend on a course or in a direction different from the planned or intended one
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be at variance with; be out of line with
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markedly different from an accepted norm
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a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behaviorsynonyms: degenerate, deviant, perverttypes:fetishistone who engages in fetishism (especially of a sexual nature)masochistsomeone who obtains pleasure from receiving punishmentpaedophilean adult who is sexually attracted to childrensadistsomeone who obtains pleasure from inflicting pain on otherssadomasochistsomeone who enjoys both sadism and masochismflagellanta person who is whipped or whips himself for sexual gratification
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Vocabulary lists containing deviate
Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel details the adventures of the precocious Murry children as they travel across space and time to track down their missing father.
Conscripted by the army at the age of 13, Ishmael Beah was forced to fight in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. In this memoir, Beah shines a light on the experiences of child soldiers.
In Latin, the word for "road" or "way" is "via." True to our roots, in English, we say that we go from New York to Florida via Interstate Highway 95. More Latin Love, Volume I lists: vocare, portare, sci, and struere! ELA Common Core State Standard: "Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word."