nonstandard
Americanadjective
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not standard.
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not conforming in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc., to the usage characteristic of and considered acceptable by most educated native speakers; lacking in social prestige or regionally or socially limited in use.
a nonstandard dialect; nonstandard English.
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Mathematics. of or relating to a generalized system of numbers that includes the real numbers but also includes infinite and infinitesimal numbers.
nonstandard analysis.
adjective
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denoting or characterized by idiom, vocabulary, etc, that is not regarded as correct and acceptable by educated native speakers of a language; not standard
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deviating from a given standard
Usage
A term labeled Nonstandard in this dictionary is one that is thought to be characteristic of the speech of persons with little education—a term that is often regarded as a marker of low social status.
Etymology
Origin of nonstandard
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The chip maker last week said it would no longer exclude stock-based compensation expense from its nonstandard financial metrics, starting with the current quarter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
"We actually had to do something nonstandard to achieve this," Bonagiri said.
From Science Daily • Feb. 29, 2024
Anyone who pursues a nonstandard creative career in America and doesn’t have generational wealth or a rich spouse will likely hold at least two jobs.
From Slate • Jan. 3, 2024
However, they don’t fit nonstandard spaces very well, and they’re harder to retrofit into existing spaces, so they work best in new construction.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 13, 2023
Double negatives, ain’t, and other nonstandard forms soon became stigmatized by their association with the less prestigious dialects of English used by its poorer and less educated speakers.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
