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Scatter vs Deviation - What's the difference?

scatter | deviation |

As a verb scatter

is (ergative) to (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.

As a noun deviation is

diversion; different route to travel.

scatter

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.
  • the police scattered the crowds
    the crowd scattered
  • * Shakespeare
  • Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths.
  • To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.
  • Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.
  • * Dryden
  • Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, / Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?
  • (physics) To deflect (radiation or particles).
  • To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
  • To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.
  • to scatter hopes or plans

    Derived terms

    * scatterbrain * scatterplot * scattershot

    deviation

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of deviating; a wandering from the way; variation from the common way, from an established rule, etc.; departure, as from the right course or the path of duty.
  • The state or result of having deviated; a transgression; an act of sin; an error; an offense.
  • (contract law) The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility.
  • (Absolute Deviation) The shortest distance between the center of the target and the point where a projectile hits or bursts.
  • (statistics) For interval variables and ratio variables, a measure of difference between the observed value and the mean.
  • (metrology) The signed difference between a value and its reference value.
  • Derived terms

    * absolute deviation * average deviation * deviation ratio * immune deviation * mean deviation * quartile deviation * relative deviation * sexual deviation * signed deviation * standard deviation