Definition of "eccentric"

Strikingly, we see that party births tend systematically to be at policy positions that are significantly more eccentric than those of surviving parties, whatever decision rule these parties use.

2011, Michael Laver, Ernest Sergenti., Party Competition: An Agent-Based Model, page 125

He was a man of a most eccentric turn of mind, and great singularity of conduct.

1801, Author not named, Fyfield (John), entry in Eccentric Biography; Or, Sketches of Remarkable Characters, Ancient and Modern, page 127

Such is not the case with Mr. Martin Van Butchell, one of the most eccentric characters to be found in the British metropolis, and a gentleman of indisputable science and abilities, but whose strange humors and extraordinary habits, have rather tended to obscure than to display the talents he possessed.

1807, G. H. Wilson, editor, The Eccentric Mirror, volume 3, page 17

There can be no doubt that as a matter of fact a religious life, exclusively pursued, does tend to make the person exceptional and eccentric.

1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture I

Khedron was the only other person in the city who could be called eccentric—and even his eccentricity had been planned by the designers of Diaspar.

1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, published 2012, unnumbered page

[…] for whatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands he crooketh them to his own ends, which must needs be often eccentric to those of his master or state: […]

a. 1626, Francis Bacon, 1867, Richard Whately (analysis and notes), James R. Boyd (editor), Essay XI: Wisdom for a Man's Self, Lord Bacon's Essays, page 171

A tiny, feisty woman who always spoke her mind, Charlotte was an eccentric in the wonderful way that some women from the last century were natural eccentrics.

1989, Jeffrey Robinson, Rainier and Grace, page 26

Eccentrics live longer, happier, and healthier lives than conformist normal citizens, according to the neuropsychologist David Weeks.

1998, Michael Gross, Life On The Edge, published 2001, page ix

The position of the eccentrics which is necessary to make the pistons drive the engine forward must be directly the reverse of that which would cause them to drive the engine backwards. To be able, therefore, to reverse the motion of the engine, it would only be necessary to be able to reverse the position of the eccentrics, which may be accomplished by either of two expedients.

1840, Dionysius Lardner, The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated‎, page 379

Clavius goes on to use the large number of orbs in Fracostoro's theory as another reason to prefer the Ptolemaic system, then couples this issue with that of the relative capacity of the theories to save the phenomena, then finally reiterates the lack (as he sees it) of conflict between the Aristotelian natural philosophy and the eccentrics and epicycles of mathematical astronomy.

1994, James M. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology‎, page 116

The discussion that revolved around the admissibility of eccentrics and epicycles lied[sic] at the core of this theoretical discussion, and those who would not allow such concepts took the position that such eccentrics and epicycles would then introduce a center of heaviness, other than the Earth, around which celestial simple objects would then move.

2007, George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance‎, page 120

Research tells us that eccentrics, heavy partials, and static exercise may require several days or weeks of recovery time.

2021, Edward L. Wallace, Omniflex: A Unified System of Strength Training