oddball

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word oddball. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word oddball, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say oddball in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word oddball you have here. The definition of the word oddball will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofoddball, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

Compound of odd +‎ ball. Attested since the 1940s, with the adjective appearing earlier than the noun.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɑːdˌbɔl/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑːdbɔl

Noun

oddball (plural oddballs)

  1. An eccentric or unusual person.
    • 1964, Earl Warren et al., Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, page 685:
      Miss Quinn thought that Oswald spoke Russian well in view of his lack of formal training; she found the evening uninteresting. Donovan, with whom she had a date later, testified that she told him that Oswald was “kind of an oddball.”
    • 1989, Maris Soule, Storybook Hero, page 5:
      "She's different, mister. A real oddball, if you know what I mean. But your little girl would love her. All kids love the Doll Lady."
  2. (neuroscience) A deviant stimulus that appears among repetitive stimuli during an experiment, to trigger an event-related potential in the participant.

Synonyms

Translations

Adjective

oddball (not comparable)

  1. Exotic, not mainstream.
    • 1984, Steven K. Roberts, The Complete Guide to Microsystem Management:
      An oddball word processor, for example, might never be supported by such helpful tools as spelling checkers, indexing programs, footnote utilities,...

Translations