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Conform vs Deviate - What's the difference?

conform | deviate |

As verbs the difference between conform and deviate

is that conform is to act in accordance with expectations; to behave in the manner of others, especially as a result of social pressure while deviate is to go off course from; to change course; to change plans.

As a noun deviate is

a person with deviant behaviour; a deviant, degenerate or pervert.

conform

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (intransitive, of persons, often followed by to) To act in accordance with expectations; to behave in the manner of others, especially as a result of social pressure.
  • * 1822 , , Peveril of the Peak , ch. 1:
  • [H]e had a dispensation for conforming in outward observances to the Protestant faith.
  • * 1839 , , The Voyage of the Beagle , ch. 4:
  • [B]y conforming to the dress and habits of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country.
  • To be in accordance with a set of specifications or regulations, or with a policy or guideline.
  • * 1919 , , The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit , ch. 11:
  • In height and breadth it conformed to the prescribed measurements laid down by the rules of the contest.
  • * 2006 22 Dec., " Judge Cuts Amount of Vioxx Award ," New York Times (retrieved 7 June 2011):
  • A judge in a Texas widow’s lawsuit over the Merck drug Vioxx reduced a $32 million jury award to about $7.75 million on Thursday so that it conformed to state law.
  • To make similar in form or nature; to make suitable for a purpose; to adapt.
  • * , "Vanbrugh's House" in The Poems of Jonathan Swift (1910 edition):
  • There is a worm by Phoebus bred,
    By leaves of mulberry is fed,
    Which unprovided where to dwell,
    Conforms itself to weave a cell.
  • * 1836 , , Nature , ch. 6:
  • The sensual man conforms' thoughts to things; the poet ' conforms things to his thoughts.

    Synonyms

    * (act in accordance with expectations) acquiesce, comply, go along to get along, knuckle under, submit

    deviate

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (sociology) A person with deviant behaviour; a deviant, degenerate or pervert.
  • * 1915: James Cornelius Wilson, A Handbook of medical diagnosis [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC56783761&id=4B7nMfNnIZkC&pg=PA346&lpg=PA346&dq=%22a+deviate%22&as_brr=1]
  • ...Walton has suggested that it is desirable "to name the phenomena signs of deviation, and call their possessors deviates or a deviate as the case may be...
  • * 1959: Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, Kurt W. Back, Social Pressures in Informal Groups: A Study of Human Factors in Housing [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00181184&id=J24AAAAAMAAJ&q=%22a+deviate%22&dq=%22a+deviate%22&pgis=1]
  • Under these conditions the person who appears as a deviate' is a ' deviate only because we have chosen, somewhat arbitrarily, to call him a member of the court ...
  • * 2001: Rupert Brown, Group Processes [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0631184961&id=e-9OtYRo45cC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=%22a+deviate%22&sig=GsTXt6FCAxGzfu9Z1Y5DBjGXb-0]
  • ...The second confederate was also to be a deviate initially...
  • (statistics) A value equal to the difference between a measured variable factor and a fixed or algorithmic reference value.
  • * 1928: Karl J. Holzinger, Statistical Methods for Students in Education [http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN28006559&id=sKTVf2R9QcQC&q=%22a+deviate%22&dq=%22a+deviate%22&pgis=1]
  • It will be noted that for a deviate x = 1.5, the ordinate z will have the value .130...
  • * 2001: Sanjeev B. Sarmukaddam, Indrayan Indrayan, Abhaya Indrayan, Medical Biostatistics [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0824704266&id=DHkXkXhpryAC&pg=RA20-PA279&lpg=RA20-PA279&dq=%22a+deviate%22&sig=V0CUzyD7DlXKCm_ehD84Trl8J5g]
  • This difference is called a deviate. When a deviate is divided by its SD a, it is called a relative deviate or a standard deviate.
  • * 2005: Michael J. Crawley, Statistics: An Introduction Using R [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0470022973&id=czbzO5iD1Z0C&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=%22a+deviate%22&sig=-Erqbq87cIuqSaSOjXqw7Edaabo]
  • This is a deviate so the appropriate function is qt. We need to supply it with the probability (in this case p = 0.975) and the degrees of freedom...

    Verb

    (deviat)
  • To go off course from; to change course; to change plans.
  • He's deviating from the course. Follow him!
  • To fall outside of, or part from, some norm; to stray.
  • His exhibition of nude paintings deviated from local censorship norms .
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, / May boldly deviate from the common track.

    Synonyms

    * (change course ): swerve, veer * (stray ): stray, wander

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms ----