I. “+ noun
Etymology: non- (I) + conform, v. + -ist
1.
a. : a person who does not conform to an established church or its doctrine, discipline, or polity
Lutheran churchmen and Swedish nonconformists cooperate — N.G.Sahlin
b. often capitalized
(1) : one of the clergymen numbering about 2000 who left the Church of England in 1662 rather than submit to the Act of Uniformity
(2) : a member of a religious body separated from the Church of England : dissenter
a desire to bring Nonconformists within the established church — British Book News
2.
a. : a person who fails or refuses to conform to some norm : one who deviates from a generally accepted or socially approved way or pattern of thought or action
the Bureau of Naval Personnel soon returned these nonconformists to a civilian status — A.A.Ageton
b. : a person who dissents on principled grounds from an established or conventional creed, rule, or practice : one who displays a courageous independence of thought in refusing to conform blindly or timidly to a prevailing dogma or orthodoxy
whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist — R.W.Emerson
those who have done most for the world … have been the dissenters and nonconformists — R.J.McCracken
3. : a natural object that does not function or behave according to rule or in a manner typical of its kind
gallium is a nonconformist among metals — L.J.Briggs
type of variable star had been recognized as a nonconformist since 1946 — J.M.Chamberlain
II. adjective
1.
a. : nonconforming to an established church
b. often capitalized : relating to a member of or being a religious body separated from the Church of England
nonconformist ministers gathered
a poor, Nonconformist family — Time
2. : nonconforming to some norm or socially approved pattern of thought or behavior or to an established creed, rule, or practice
whose rabidly nonconformist deportment has made them legendary figures — New Yorker
also nonconformist , also biased by abnormality — Edmund Wilson
the old, stubborn, nonconformist spirit of the earliest settlers — R.M.Coates