normal

adj, noun — 27 senses

normal

adj

UK /ˈnɔː.məl/ · CA, US /ˈnoɹ.məl/

Etymology

From Latin normālis (“made according to a carpenter's square; later: according to a rule”), from nōrma (“carpenter's square”), of uncertain origin; doublet of normale. The earliest meaning of the word in English was "perpendicular; forming a right angle" like something normālis (“made according to a carpenter's square”), but by Late Latin normālis had also come to mean "according to a rule", from which modern English senses of the word derive: in the 1800s, as people began to quantitatively study things like height, weight and blood pressure, the usual or most common values came to be called "normal", and by extension values regarded as healthy or desirable came to be called "normal" regardless of their usuality.

23 senses
  1. 1According to norms or rules or to a regular pattern.
  2. 2In whose representation in a given base b ≥ 2, for every…
  3. 3With cosets which form a group.
  4. 4Which is the splitting field of a family of polynomials in K.
  5. 5Which has a very specific bell curve shape; that is or…
  6. 6Which is pre-compact.
  7. 7Which is strictly monotonically increasing and…
  8. 8Which commutes with its conjugate transpose.
  9. 9Which commutes with its adjoint.
  10. 10Which is the kernel or cokernel of some morphism, respectively.
  11. 11Which contains only normal morphisms.
  12. 12In which disjoint closed sets can be separated by…
  13. 13Integrally closed: equal its own integral closure in its…
  14. 14Such that all of its localizations at prime ideals are…
  15. 15Such that the local ring at every point is an integrally…
  16. 16Usual, healthy; not sick or ill or unlike oneself.
  17. 17Fervently interested in a subject; obsessed.
  18. 18Teaching teachers how to teach; teaching teachers the…
  19. 19Of, relating to, or being a solution containing one…
  20. 20Describing a straight chain isomer of an aliphatic…
  21. 21In which all parts of an object vibrate at the same…
  22. 22In the default position, set for the most frequently used route.
  23. 23Perpendicular to a tangent of a curve or tangent plane…
1

According to norms or rules or to a regular pattern.

  • Organize the data into third normal form.
  • 2007, Steven Wilson, "Normal", Porcupine Tree, Nil Recurring. Prescription drugs, they help me through the day And that restraining order keeps me well at bay And what's normal now, anyway?
1 more example
  • In other words, although the legal processes were observed, it was not a normal transfer of power within each of the ruling communist parties. […] Demonstrations of the sort that brought about the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe were not normal, and where attempts had previously been made to hold them, they were invariably suppressed by force.2014, Michael Rush, Politics & Society, Routledge, →ISBN, page 210:

› According to norms or rules or to a regular pattern. › Adhering to or being what is considered…

2

Mathematics, Number theory, Sciences Of a real number In whose representation in a given base b ≥ 2, for every positive integer n, the bⁿ possible strings of n digits follow a uniform distribution.

  • A number whose individual digits in a given base representation follow a uniform distribution is said to be simply normal.
  • A number that is normal for every base b ≥ 2 is said to be absolutely normal.
3

Algebra, Mathematics, Sciences Of a subgroup With cosets which form a group.

4

Algebra, Mathematics, Sciences Which is the splitting field of a family of polynomials in K.

Of a field extension of a field K

5

Mathematics, Probability theory, Sciences, Statistics Usually, Of a distribution Which has a very specific bell curve shape; that is or has the qualities of a normal distribution.

Random variable

6

Complex analysis, Mathematics, Sciences Which is pre-compact.

Of a family of continuous functions

7

Mathematics, Sciences, Set theory Which is strictly monotonically increasing and continuous with respect to the order topology.

Of a function from the ordinals to the ordinals

8

Linear algebra, Mathematics, Sciences Of a matrix Which commutes with its conjugate transpose.

9

Mathematics, Sciences Of a Hilbert space operator Which commutes with its adjoint.

Functional analysis

10

Category theory, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Of a morphism Which is the kernel or cokernel of some morphism, respectively.

11

Category theory, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Of a category Which contains only normal morphisms.

12

Mathematics, Sciences, Topology In which disjoint closed sets can be separated by disjoint neighborhoods.

Of a topology or topological space

13

Mathematics, Sciences Of a domain Integrally closed: equal its own integral closure in its field of fractions.

Commutative algebra

14

Mathematics, Sciences Of a ring Such that all of its localizations at prime ideals are integrally closed domains.

Commutative algebra

15

Algebraic geometry, Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences Of a variety or scheme Such that the local ring at every point is an integrally closed domain.

16

Usual, healthy; not sick or ill or unlike oneself.

  • John is feeling normal again.
17

Lifestyle Sarcastic, Slang, With “about” Fervently interested in a subject; obsessed.

  • I wrote a 30-page analysis of the show’s villain because I’m very normal about them.
18

Education Of a school Teaching teachers how to teach; teaching teachers the norms of education.

  • My grandmother attended Mankato State Normal School; my grandfather attended Illinois State Normal University.
  • PURPOSE AND SCOPE[:] The State Normal College prepares teachers for the public schools of Montana. It accomplishes its work through professional courses, directed observation of expert teaching, and […]1928, Western Montana College, Western Montana College of Education, Catalogue of the Montana State Normal College, page 10:
19

Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Of, relating to, or being a solution containing one equivalent weight of solute per litre of solution.

20

Chemistry, Natural sciences, Organic chemistry, Physical sciences Describing a straight chain isomer of an aliphatic hydrocarbon, or an aliphatic compound in which a substituent is in the 1- position of such a hydrocarbon.

21

Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics In which all parts of an object vibrate at the same frequency (a normal mode).

Of a mode in an oscillating system

22

Rail transport, Railways, Transport Of points In the default position, set for the most frequently used route.

23

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences Perpendicular to a tangent of a curve or tangent plane of a surface.

  • The interior normal vector of a perfect sphere always point toward the center, and the exterior normal vector directly away, and both are always collinear with the ray whose tip ends at the point of intersection, which is the intersection of all three sets of points.
Synonyms
38 termsaverage, medial, basic, bog-standard, common, commonplace, common-and-garden, common-or-garden, congruent, consistent, conventional, customary, everyday, expected, garden variety, improminent, mundane, natural, normal, ordinary, par for the course, par, plain, plain vanilla, quotidian, regular, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, standard issue, typical, unexceptional, unremarkable, unstrange, usual, vulgar, wakeaday, workaday
Antonyms
conspicuous, different, egregious, exceptional, historic, interesting, memorable, notable, noteworthy, outstanding, remarkable, special, strange, unique
Derived terms
104 termsabnormal, algebraic normal form, antinormal, Backus normal form, binormal, Boyce-Codd normal form, canonical conjunctive normal form, canonical disjunctive normal form, centinormal, clausal normal form, conjunctive normal form, conormal, Covid normal, decanormal, decinormal, denormal, disjunctive normal form, Earth-normal, equinormal, extranormal, fifth normal form, first normal form, fourth normal form, have a normal one, heteronormal, hypernormal, hyponormal, immunonormal, lognormal, log-normal distribution, malnormal, millinormal, multinormal, new normal, nonnormal, normal basis, normalcy, normal depth, normaldom, normal extension, normalfag, normal fault, normal force, normal form, normal form game, normal for Norfolk, normal good, normal histology, normalhood, normal hydrogen, normal hydrogen electrode, normalise, normalize, normalish, Normal Island, normalism, normalist, normality, normalization, normal lens, normallo, normally, normal mode, normalness, normaloid, normal pause, normalphobia, normalphobic, normal potential, normal profit, normal random variable, normal saline, normal school, normal space, normal subgroup, normal time, normal vector, normalwise, norman, normie, normophile, orthonormal, paranormal, perinormal, polynormal, postnormal, prenex normal form, preternormal, pronormal, pseudonormal, quasinormal, ring sum normal form, second normal form, seminormal, standard normal distribution, standard normal random variable, subnormal, supernormal, supranormal, surface normal, third normal form, transnormal, ultranormal, unnormal
Related terms
norm, no great shakes, according to Hoyle, by the book, by the numbers, shipshape and Bristol fashion, to the letter, normalization, normalize, normalized, normcore, normie, agreeable, inevitable, intermediate, moderate, normally, normality
Hyponyms
bare-bones, boring, conformant, familiar, orthodox

normal

noun
Etymology

From Latin normālis (“made according to a carpenter's square; later: according to a rule”), from nōrma (“carpenter's square”), of uncertain origin; doublet of normale. The earliest meaning of the word in English was "perpendicular; forming a right angle" like something normālis (“made according to a carpenter's square”), but by Late Latin normālis had also come to mean "according to a rule", from which modern English senses of the word derive: in the 1800s, as people began to quantitatively study things like height, weight and blood pressure, the usual or most common values came to be called "normal", and by extension values regarded as healthy or desirable came to be called "normal" regardless of their usuality.

1

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences A line or vector that is perpendicular to another line, surface, or plane.

2

Medicine, Sciences A person who is healthy, normal, as opposed to one who is morbid.

  • Subjects were grouped as Group 1 and Group 2 according to VAI, and normals, overweights and obeses according to BMI.2014, Ahmet Celik, Edibe Saricicek, Vahap Saricicek, Elif Sahin, Gokhan Ozdemir, Metin Kilinc, Ayten Oguz, Relation between the new anthropometric obesity parameters and inflammatory markers in healthy adult men, SCIRJ:
3

Slang A person who is normal, who fits into mainstream society, as opposed to those who live alternative lifestyles.

4

The usual state.

  • I was quite ill for a while, but latterly seem to have returned to normal.
  • His workload is now back to normal.
2 more examples
  • Heavy workload is the new normal.
  • Still, there was a hitch somewhere in the gathering that threw it out of normal.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 269:
Synonyms
mainstreamer

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.