nonconformity.

1. Departure from a prevailing norm, standard or requirement.

2. Religious dissent from the doctrine or practice of an established church, especially historically in Britain.

3. An unconformable contact where sedimentary rock overlies older igneous or metamorphic rock that was exposed and eroded.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• social nonconformity
• nonconformity with a requirement

On the page

Social nonconformity exposed the character to criticism even when her conduct caused no harm.

A nonconformity with the requirement was documented before the product was released.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / character / human behavior. Forms: Singular nonconformity; plural nonconformities. Often uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: characterization, motivation analysis, behavioral comparison, qualification. Disciplines: psychology, social behavior, character writing. Commonness: moderately common.