We are enabled to unite into a consistent whole the
various anomalies and contending principles that are
found in the minds and affairs of men. --Burke.
As Professor Owen has remarked, there is no greater
anomaly in nature than a bird that can not fly.
--Darwin.
2. (Astron.)
(a) The angular distance of a planet from its perihelion,
as seen from the sun. This is the true anomaly. The
eccentric anomaly is a corresponding angle at the
center of the elliptic orbit of the planet. The mean
anomaly is what the anomaly would be if the planet's
angular motion were uniform.
(b) The angle measuring apparent irregularities in the
motion of a planet.
3. (Nat. Hist.) Any deviation from the essential
characteristics of a specific type.