noun

• The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road.
• A departure from the correct way of acting.
• The state or result of having deviated; a transgression; an act of sin; an error; an offense.
• A detour in a road or railway.
• (aviation) A detour to one side of the originally-planned flightpath (for instance, to avoid weather); the act of making such a detour.
• (contract law) The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility.
• (Absolute Deviation) The shortest distance between the center of the target and the point where a projectile hits or bursts.
• (statistics) For interval variables and ratio variables, a measure of difference between the observed value and the mean.
• (metrology) The signed difference between a value and its reference value.