unconformity

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Lack of conformity to convention

Nouns

1. unconformity, nonconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormality; anomaly, anomalousness; exception, peculiarity, irregularity; infraction, breach, violation, or infringement of law, custom, or usage (see illegality); eccentricity, oddity, twist, trick, quirk; conversation piece, something to write home about; disagreement. Informal, one for the books. See dissent, heterodoxy.

2. (nonconformist nature) individuality, speciality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism; unusualness, strangeness; lunatic fringe; aberration; variety, singularity; exemption; mannishness, eonism, homosexuality, bi-sexuality, Lesbianism. Slang, third sex.

3. (person) nonconformist, nondescript, original; nonesuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, rara avis; alien, foreigner (see extrinsic); beatnik, hippie, yippie; enfant terrible; mongrel, hybrid (see mixture); hermaphrodite; transsexual; homosexual, Lesbian; transvestite; bisexual; invert, pervert; monstrosity, rarity, freak, crank; maverick, misfit, fish out of water; freak of nature; neither one thing nor another; neither fish, [flesh, ] nor fowl; one in a million; outcast, pariah, outlaw; out-group. Informal, character, card. Slang, crackpot, screwball, oddball, flake, fluke, queer fish, wack, kook, airball, cornflake, cupcake, dingaling, dufus, space cadet, weirdo, fly ball, quoob; homo, fairy, nance, pansy, fag[got], queer, ladylover, dike; flower child.

4. (unusual creature) phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur; griffin, centaur; hippogriff; cockatrice, roc, dragon, sea-serpent; mermaid; unicorn; Cyclops, Medusa, Hydra. See mythical deities.

Verbs — leave the beaten track or path, go one's [own] way; baffle or beggar description. Slang, beat the Dutch.

Adjectives

1. unconformable, exceptional, abnormal, anomalous, out of place or keeping; irregular, arbitrary; alien, foreign; lawless, aberrant, peculiar, unnatural, eccentric, uncommon, extraordinary, outside the pale.

2. unusual, uncommon; rare, singular, unique, curious, odd, extraordinary, off the beaten track, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous; wonderful, unaccountable; informal; unofficial; out of step, out of one's element; outré, out-of-the-way, remarkable, noteworthy; queer, quaint, sui generis; original, unconventional, unfashionable; unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unheard of, nondescript; fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, kinky; pixilated; outlandish, exotic, offbeat, off-center, weird, out of this world; preternatural; superhuman, inhuman; unsymmetric. Informal, off-trail. Slang, far-out, wacky, flaky, kinky, kooky, off the grid, on tilt, way-out.

Adverbs — unconformably; except, unless, save, barring, beside, without, let alone; however, yet, but; against the grain or the hair.

Quotations — Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Antonyms, see conformity.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. nonconformity, difference, dissent, incongruity; see inconsistency , revolution 2 .