deviation

IPA: diviˈeɪʃʌn

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.

Examples of "deviation" in Sentences

* The standard deviation is defined as the square root of the variance, which gives the average squared deviation from the mean value of a series.
I understood that, but = perhaps due to my linguistic ignorance - to me all differences in usage or pronounciation are to be attributed to some kind of deviation from the "model" of correct use.