irregular Adjective
( en adjective)
Nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations.
* {{quote-book
, year = 1967
, first = Barbara
, last = Sleigh
, authorlink = Barbara Sleigh
, title = ( Jessamy)
, edition = 1993
, location = Sevenoaks, Kent
, publisher=Bloomsbury
, isbn = 0 340 19547 9
, page = 33
, url =
, passage = ‘ “It would be most irregular' Grandpa!” says Miss Cecily frowning and tapping her foot. “Well, we’re a pretty ' irregular family so that’s neither here nor there,” says the old man, impish like. [...] ’
}}
Of a surface, rough.
Without symmetry, regularity, or uniformity.
*{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
, title= The Three Corpse Trick , chapter=5
, passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01-01, author=Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore
, volume=101, issue=1, page=47–48, magazine=( American Scientist)
, title= Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight
, passage=Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins ( Spinus pinus ) undergo an irregular , nomadic type of nocturnal migration.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
, volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=( The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains
, passage= Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
Not regular; having sides that are not equal or angles that are not equal.
Whose faces are not all regular polygons (or are not equally inclined to each other).
Antonyms
* regular
Derived terms
* irregular plural
* irregular verb
Noun
( en noun)
A soldier who is not a member of an official military force and, often, does not follow regular army tactics.
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peculiar English
Adjective
( en adjective)
Out of the ordinary; odd; curious; unusual.
- The sky had a peculiar appearance before the storm.
- It would be rather peculiar to see a kangaroo hopping down a city street.
* 1800 , , Volume 41, page 379 ,
- I saw nothing peculiar in his conduct, and thought that his arrangement of the ballot box was perfect.
* 2001 , Jack Schaefer, Wendell Minor, Shane ,
- "Wasn't it peculiar ," I heard mother say, "How he wouldn't talk about himself?"
- "Peculiar ?" said father. "Well, yes, in a way."
- "Everything about him is peculiar ." Mother sounded as if she was stirred up and interested. "I never saw a man quite like him before."
* 2008', Stephen Arnott, '''''Peculiar Proverbs: Weird Words of Wisdom from Around the World .
Common or usual for a certain place or circumstance; specific or particular.
- Kangaroos are peculiar to Australia.
* 1855 , ,
- This philosopher found his ideas especially in all that is practical,[29] that is, which rests upon freedom, which in its turn ranks under cognitions that are the peculiar product of reason.
*
* 1895 , , XX: Anomalous Islands: Celebes,
- But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene age have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of volcanoes; it [Iceland] is connected with the British Islands and with Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar', and at least three ' peculiar species of birds.
(dated) One's own; belonging solely or especially to an individual; not shared or possessed by others.
* Bible, Titus ii. 14
- And purify unto himself a peculiar people.
* Hooker
- hymns that Christianity hath peculiar unto itself
(dated) Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
* Milton
- while each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat
* Dryden
- My fate is Juno's most peculiar care.
Synonyms
* (out of the ordinary) strange, uncommon, unusual
* (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance) specific
Antonyms
* (out of the ordinary) common, usual
* (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance) common, general, universal
Derived terms
* peculiarity
* peculiarly
* peculiarness
Noun
( en noun)
That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.
* South
- Revenge is the peculiar of Heaven.
(UK, canon law) A particular parish or church which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary.
References
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