Odd things come in many kinds, and English has a word for each. Some words describe how strange something is, from mildly peculiar to wildly bizarre and outlandish. Some describe people and methods that break the usual pattern (eccentric, unorthodox, idiosyncrasy). Some describe things that don’t fit or break the rule (incongruous, anomaly, aberration), and one describes the never-before-seen (unprecedented).
Key idea
Roots help here: ec-centric = out of the center; ab-err-ation = wandering away; an-omaly = not even, not regular; un-pre-cedented = with nothing going before it.
The ten words
Common mistake
bizarre (strange) is not bazaar (a market). unprecedented means never happened before, not merely rare.
| word | what is odd about it |
|---|---|
| peculiar, bizarre, outlandish | strange, from a little to wildly |
| eccentric | a person’s harmless oddness |
| unorthodox | a method that breaks with custom |
| idiosyncrasy | one person’s own quirk |
| incongruous | out of place where it is |
| anomaly, aberration | a break from the normal pattern |
| unprecedented | never happened before |
Bizarre (very strange) and bazaar (a market) sound alike. And unprecedented is stronger than rare: a rare event has happened before, but an unprecedented one never has.