freak of nature

Noun

freak of nature (plural freaks of nature)

1. A monstrosity; a malformation; an abnormal organism.

   Synonyms:

   aberration, abnormality, anomaly, deformity, freak, monster, mutant, mutation, oddity, rarity

2. In the variety-show business, a person or an animal on exhibition as showing some strange deviation from nature, such as a bearded woman or an albino.
   • He read old almanacs at the book-stalls on the quays, and he began to frequent another café, where more newspapers were taken and his post-prandial demi-tasse cost him a penny extra, and where he used to con the tattered sheets for curious anecdotes, freaks of nature, and strange coincidences.1876 July, Henry James, Jr., “The American”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXXVIII, number CCXXV, Boston, Mass.: H[enry] O[scar] Houghton and...