| ̷ ̷ at non- + noun
Etymology: non- (I) + conformity
1.
a.
(1) : failure or refusal to conform to an established church : the principles or practices of religious nonconformists
the early church was hostile to all nonconformity
(2) often capitalized : neglect or refusal especially by Protestant dissenters to conform to the Church of England or its doctrine, discipline, or polity : the movement, doctrines, or principles of English Protestant dissent
Nonconformity reached its height of political power … round the beginning of the century — D.W.Brogan
(3) often capitalized : the body of English nonconformists
efforts on behalf of persecuted Nonconformity — Douglas Bush
made many friends in the circles of prosperous nonconformity — John Buchan
b. : refusal to conform to an established or conventional creed, rule, or practice
totalitarian orthodoxy hates defiant nonconformity — A.E.Stevenson †1965
the world … with its tenor of nonconformity — Mary Webb
2. : absence of agreement or correspondence
the striking nonconformity of his ideas and his practice
3. : a surface of contact between sedimentary rocks and underlying eroded igneous or metamorphic rocks upon which they were deposited : a depositional contact ; also : an unconformity occurring between two nonparallel sequences of strata