anomaly

2 definitions • 3 examples

a person or thing that is different from what is usual, or not in agreement with something else and therefore not satisfactory:

Statistical anomalies can make it difficult to compare economic data from one year to the next.

The anomaly of the social security system is that you sometimes have more money without a job.

something that is unusual enough to be noticeable or seem strange:

The government does computer checks of tax returns to find anomalies that might indicate fraud.