nonconformist
Americannoun
-
a person who refuses to conform, as to established customs, attitudes, or ideas.
- Synonyms:
- loner, individualist, dissident, dissenter
-
(often initial capital letter) a Protestant in England who is not a member of the Church of England; dissenter.
noun
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
- Nonconformity noun
- nonconformism noun
Etymology
Origin of nonconformist
First recorded in 1610–20; non- + conformist
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.
Vocabulary lists containing nonconformist
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "N"
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Excerpt from "Self-Reliance"
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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.
On that lesson alone, every company should have taken a nonconformist to lunch.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 18, 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
A strong socialist bent in politics, nonconformist in religion, working class.
From Salon • May 27, 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
Major Major’s elders disliked him because he was such a flagrant nonconformist Since he had nothing better to do well in, he did well in school.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
