deviate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin dēviātus (“turned out of the way”), the past participle of dēviō (“to turn aside, turn out of the way”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a verb of Augustine and the Vulgate.^[3] This is formed from Latin dē- (“off, away from”) and via (“way, road”),^{[7][3][8][9][10]} or, as Etymonline puts it, from the phrase dē viā (“off the road”);^[2] Barnhart derives it from dēvius (“out of the way, remote”), the source of devious.^[4][8] The American Heritage Dictionary refers via to Proto-Indo-European *wegh-.^[7] The OED compares Middle French dévier, used by Oresme in the 14th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, turned out of the way, remote: 1575, in Rolland's Court of Venus, a sense obsolete by 1638.^[3][11][6] The verb is first recorded before 1634 in the figurative sense, to turn aside from a course, rule or standard,^[3][4] and in 1635, in Quarles's Emblemes, in the literal sense, to turn aside from the way.^[3] Etymonline dates the verb to the 1630s,^[2] Merriam-Webster to about 1633,^[12] and Dictionary.com to 1625–35.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the verb was used for digressing from a subject (1638), for turning someone or something aside (1660) and, of things, for taking a different course or differing from a standard (1692).^[3] Etymonline dates "diverge, differ" to the 1690s.^[2] Differing in opinion is recorded from 1714.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as to wander from the right or common way, and also to go astray, err or sin, quoting Dryden's line that Shadwell "never deviates into sense".^[13] In the 20th century the word acquired a noun, first recorded in 1912, for a person who departs from social norms, especially a sexual pervert,^[3][2][4] and a statistical sense, the value of a variate measured from a standard point such as the mean (1925, in R. A. Fisher).^[3] The adjective was revived in the sense of deviant, by Merriam-Webster's dating in 1929 and by the OED's in 1945.^[12][3]

Timeline

• 1575 – adjective, turned out of the way, remote (obsolete by 1638).^[3]
• before 1634 – to turn aside from a course, rule or standard.^[3][4]
• 1635 – to turn aside from the way; to swerve.^[3]
• 1638 – to digress from the subject.^[3]
• 1660 – transitive, to turn someone or something aside.^[3]
• 1692 – of things, to differ from a standard.^[3]
• 1912 – noun, a person who deviates from social norms, especially a sexual pervert.^[3][4][2]
• 1925 – noun, in statistics, a value measured from the mean.^[3]
• 1929 – adjective, deviant.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn aside from a course or path: The hikers deviated from the trail to reach the lake.^[10][12][3]
2. To depart from a standard, norm, rule or topic: He never deviated from his morning routine.^[10][12][3]
3. To differ or diverge, as in opinion or belief.^[10][3]
4. (transitive) To cause someone or something to turn aside.^[10][3]

Noun

1. A person whose behaviour departs from social norms; a deviant, especially a sexual one.^[10][12][3]
2. In statistics, the value of a variate measured from a standard point of a distribution, usually the mean.^[12][3]

Adjective

1. Departing markedly from accepted social norms, especially in sexual behaviour; deviant.^[10][12][3]

Word family

• deviator
• deviatory
• deviable
• nondeviating
• undeviating

Related words

• deviant
• deviation
• devious
• via

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.