unorthodox
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unorthodox
Explanation
Unorthodox describes something that goes against the usual ways of doing things. Instead of describing yourself as a terrible speller, you might instead proudly refer to your spelling as unorthodox. The adjective unorthodox originally referred to religion, specifically to a person or practice that went against the traditions of a particular belief. The Greek roots of unorthodox are orthos, or "right," and doxa, or "opinion." So someone whose beliefs are orthodox has "the right opinion," while an unorthodox person does not. The definition has evolved so that unorthodox's meaning is closer to "unusual" or "innovative" than just plain "wrong."
Vocabulary lists containing unorthodox
Power Prefix: un-
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Brave New World
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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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.
It's an unorthodox approach to making friends, but it seems to work.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
In his mind, Move 37 was deeply significant because it was the first real example of AI coming up with an original, unorthodox idea in a domain studied by humans for centuries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
It is playful and slightly unorthodox, especially if, in your childhood household, “soup” meant both vegetables and heat, but it is refreshing in terms of both effort and final product.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
"She is an unorthodox choice, as all previous Hungarian presidents had political experience," Peter Kreko, head of the Budapest-based Political Capital think tank, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
“I can’t imagine someone could want them dead. They may have had some... unorthodox quirks, but they were good people.”
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
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.
