Both words refer to a person or thing that is so different from the norm that they appear strange or are difficult to explain. Oddity suggests something or someone remarkably unusual, often peculiar in appearance, and having some entertainment value: museum of medical oddities. An anomaly is an abnormality that is recognized more by its departure from norms governing everything else of its kind rather than being itself strange: Chef Bob was an anomaly in a family boasting generations of doctors. Anomaly is often a more technical term in fields intent on detecting, discovering, correcting, or explaining anomalies that occur in data, statistics, or genetics.

Frighten suggests causing a significant degree of fear in a person, often directly and immediately: A noise frightened us. When the fear overcomes a person or intimidates them so that they back down, then daunt is a good choice. Daunt comes from a Latin verb meaning “to tame or subdue.” It’s often a prospect, challenge, or task that daunts a person—that is, something that lies before them, rather than something immediately frightening. If not the task itself, the scale, scope, or magnitude of it may daunt the doer.

Both words refer to a boundary where a surface or area ends. An edge is any line that bounds an area—the eastern edge of the city; trim the edges of the paper, and it usually functions like a line, without width, that divides one area from another. A periphery, which is a boundary all the way around a surface or area, is less exactly located than an edge and more like a space on either side: Set up the tables around the periphery of the room; countries along the western periphery of China. Periphery is frequently used of tracts or lots of land: the airport’s periphery; urban periphery.