Errant vs Strange - What's the difference?
errant | strange |
Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
* Sir Thomas Browne
Prone to making errors.
(proscribed) Utter, complete (negative); arrant.
* Ben Jonson
Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.
* Milton
Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
* Shakespeare
* 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, pages 48–49:
(physics) Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
* 2004 Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford, page 93:
(obsolete) Belonging to another country; foreign.
* Shakespeare
* Ascham
(obsolete) Reserved; distant in deportment.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) Backward; slow.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
(obsolete) Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To alienate; to estrange.
(obsolete) To be estranged or alienated.
(obsolete) To wonder; to be astonished.
(slang, uncountable) vagina
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As an adjective errant
is straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.As a proper noun strange is
.errant
English
Alternative forms
* (l) (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- seven planets or errant stars in the lower orbs of heaven
- would make me an errant fool
Usage notes
Sometimes is considered simply an alternative spelling and pronunciation of errant', though many authorities distinguish them, reserving '''errant''' to mean “wandering” and using it ''after'' the noun it modifies, notably is “knight '''errant ”, while using ''arrant'' to mean “utter”, in a negative sense, and ''before'' the noun it modifies, notably in “''arrant knaves”. Etymologically, arrant arose as a variant of errant , but the meanings have long since diverged. Both terms are archaic, primarily used in set phrases (which may be considered ), and are easily confused, and on that basis some authorities suggest against using either.Synonyms
*Derived terms
* (l) * (l)References
* “arrant/errant”, Common Errors in English Usage, Paul Brians *
On Language: Arrant Nonsense, (William Safire), January 22, 2006, (New York Times) * Merriam–Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1995,
“errant, arrant”, pp. 406–407
Anagrams
* ----strange
English
Adjective
(er)- He thought it strange that his girlfriend wore shorts in the winter.
- Sated at length, erelong I might perceive / Strange alteration in me.
- I moved to a strange town when I was ten.
- Here is the hand and seal of the duke; you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you.
- She's probably sitting there hoping a couple of strange detectives will drop in.
- A strange quark is electrically charged, carrying an amount -1/3, as does the down quark.
- one of the strange queen's lords
- I do not contemn the knowledge of strange and divers tongues.
- She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee.
- (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
- Who, loving the effect, would not be strange / In favouring the cause.
- In thy fortunes am unlearned and strange .
Synonyms
* (not normal) bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, peculiar, queer, singular, unwonted, weird * (qualifier, not part of one's experience): new, unfamiliar, unknown * See alsoAntonyms
* (not normal) everyday, normal, regular (especially US), standard, usual, unsurprising * (qualifier, not part of one's experience): familiar, knownDerived terms
* for some strange reason * like a cat in a strange garret * strange as it may seem * strange bird * strangelet * strange matter * strange quark * strangely * strangeness * strangeonium * stranger things happen at sea, stranger things have happened at sea * strange to say * truth is stranger than fictionVerb
(strang)- (Glanvill)
