Noun

(en noun)

The act of wandering; deviation from truth, moral rectitude; abnormal; divergence from the straight, correct, proper, normal, or from the natural state.

the aberration''' of youth'', '''''aberrations''' from theory'', '''''aberration of character

(optics) The convergence to different foci, by a lens or mirror, of rays of light emanating from one and the same point, or the deviation of such rays from a single focus; a defect in a focusing mechanism that prevents the intended focal point.

(astronomy) A small periodical change of position in the stars and other heavenly bodies, due to the combined effect of the motion of light and the motion of the observer.

A partial alienation of reason.

* Lingard:

Occasional aberrations of intellect.

* I. Taylor:

Whims, which at first are the aberrations of a single brain, pass with heat into epidemic form.

A mental disorder, especially one of a minor or temporary character.

(zoology, botany) Atypical development or structure; deviation from the normal type; an aberrant organ.

A deviation of a tissue, organ or mental functions from what is considered to be within the normal range.

Noun

(uncountable) Inadequacy or incompleteness.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.}}

(countable) An insufficiency, especially of something essential to health.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-31, volume=408, issue=8851, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Promotion and self-promotion , passage=One of academia’s deficiencies is that, though its lecture halls and graduate schools are replete with women, its higher echelons are not. Often, this is seen as a phenomenon specific to the sciences. … In fact, the disparity applies to the whole grove. Another report from 2006, by the American Association of University Professors, found the same ratio in the faculties of arts, humanities and social science, too.}}

(geometry) The amount by which the number of double points on a curve is short of the maximum for curves of the same degree.

(geometry) The codimension of a linear system in the corresponding complete linear system.