a person who refuses to conform, as to established customs, attitudes, or ideas.
(often initial capital letter) a Protestant in England who is not a member of the Church of England; dissenter.
First recorded in 1610–20; non- + conformist
A nonconformist is someone who doesn’t conform to other people’s ideas of how things should be. Activists, artists, street performers, your wacky uncle Marvin — anyone who marches to the beat of a different drummer is a nonconformist. Nonconformist is one of those words that has both a noun and an adjective form. The noun describes someone who acts apart from the masses, and the adjective describes people or other things that have those same nonconformist qualities. If your actions mark you as a nonconformist, chances are you'll take a nonconformist approach when it comes to planning your next vacation.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For Valerie, the price is bouncing between cheap community houses and sleeping on the street, where the bleak conditions further mold Valerie’s nonconformist personality.
From Salon • Apr. 29, 2026
Worse, in the context of today’s flyaway stock market, he is a principled, value-minded, dogmatic nonconformist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
I’m refreshed by how nonconformist the format of the record is.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2025
But Tyler, ever the nonconformist, released his eighth studio album at 06:00 EST on Monday, three days after the week's chart tracking began.
From BBC • Nov. 1, 2024
I couldn’t imagine a less hospitable place for a nineteen-year-old nonconformist.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
