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• nonconformist
  nonconformist

  noun

  a person who refuses to conform, as to established customs, attitudes, or ideas.
• Nonconformist
  Nonconformist

  noun

  a member of a Protestant denomination that dissents from an Established Church, esp the Church of England

nonconformist

American  

[non-kuhn-fawr-mist] / ˌnɒn kənˈfɔr mɪst /

noun

• nonconformists
  plural

1. a person who refuses to conform, as to established customs, attitudes, or ideas.

   Synonyms:

   loner, individualist, dissident, dissenter

2. (often initial capital letter) a Protestant in England who is not a member of the Church of England; dissenter.

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Nonconformist ¹ British  

/ ˌnɒnkənˈfɔːmɪst /

noun

1. a member of a Protestant denomination that dissents from an Established Church, esp the Church of England

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or denoting Nonconformists

nonconformist ² British  

/ ˌnɒnkənˈfɔːmɪst /

noun

1. a person who does not conform to generally accepted patterns of behaviour or thought

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adjective

1. of or characterized by behaviour that does not conform to generally accepted patterns

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Nonconformity
  noun
• nonconformism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nonconformists
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of nonconformist

First recorded in 1610–20; non- + conformist

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Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nonconformist Nonconformist nonconformists

Founded in the 1830s, or maybe earlier, it’s been a private arts club, a home for nonconformist thinkers and drinkers since gaslights burned.

From Salon ● Jun. 23, 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

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

In Salar Abdoh’s Tehran, a city more populous than New York City, the vagaries of the human heart create a surprisingly unbridled and nonconformist tableau against a backdrop most Westerners view as monolithic, repressive, theocratic.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 16, 2023

There always existed King’s College, opulently nonconformist and clearly capable of absorbing him without any loss of his or its character.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

World War One, combined with Nonconformist disapproval of drink, provided a "convenient excuse" to close a few down but the pubs were still thriving late into the 20th Century.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2023

In an article on "Hymns in a Man's Life," Lawrence says the "battle-cry of a stout soul" he hears and admires in English Nonconformist hymns is "far, far from any militarism or gun-fighting."

From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2021

Since James Mason’s film, the abandoned synagogue, which was a Nonconformist chapel in the 18th and 19th centuries, has become a mosque.

From New York Times ● Oct. 15, 2014

Directors of the Nonconformist art museum pride themselves on their nongovernment, noncommercial status, and wear both descriptions like a badge of honor.

From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2011

For Mr. Birrell is the son of a venerated Nonconformist minister; and perhaps he, or at least those who were of his household, had this religious idiosyncrasy. 

From The Life of George Borrow by Clement K. Shorter

“In the end that sacred project actually tends to produce sectarian narrowness, exclusion, uniformity, silencing, self-censorship, lack of debate, the negative sanctioning of nonconformists, and the debilitation of rigorous thought.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

At the same time, the conception of Poe the writer seems to tap into a cultural affection for outsiders, nonconformists and underdogs who ultimately prove their worth.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2023

And yet, being complicated nonconformists, they weren’t uniformly of the left.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022

The Cardinals are nonconformists, just like everybody else.

From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2020

Strange rumours were soon afloat, and transcripts from Hooker’s papers got abroad, attesting that in the termination of the “Ecclesiastical Polity,” the writer had absolutely sided with the nonconformists.

From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli

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Related Words

• dissenter
• dissident
• free spirit
• individualist
• maverick

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