maverick.

1. A person who acts or thinks independently of the usual expectations of their group.

2. An unbranded range animal, especially a calf whose ownership is uncertain.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a political maverick
• an independent maverick

On the page

The party tolerated the maverick until her votes began to matter.

He became a maverick by defending a rule everyone else had quietly abandoned.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychological / character. Forms: Singular maverick; plural mavericks. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.