nonconformist

Etymology

It is formed from English non- + conformist.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Merriam-Webster Unabridged analyses it as non- with the verb conform and -ist.^[7] Conformist is formed from the verb and the same suffix,^[2][3] and the verb is from French conformer, from Latin cōnfōrmō (“to fashion, shape”), formed from con- and fōrmō (“to form”).^[2][3] The OED records nonconformist from 1618, some years before conformist (1634).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A clergyman who accepted the doctrine of the Church of England but not its ceremonies and usages: 1618, in a title by Bishop T. Morton.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the word to the 1610s,^[3] and the 1989 edition of the OED to 1619.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Weekley notes that the early nonconformists were Church of England clergymen who refused to follow certain ceremonies.^[9] After the Act of Uniformity of 1662 the name was given to the ministers ejected from their livings, about 2,000 of them, and then to the separate churches they joined or founded.^[3][9][7] From 1672 it could mean any Christian who rejected the doctrine or practice of an established church.^[2] A general sense, someone who does not follow a particular practice or course of action, is recorded from before 1677, in Isaac Barrow,^[2] from the 1670s in Etymonline.^[3] The adjective dates from 1641,^[2] and the clipped form non-con from the 1680s.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as one who refuses to join in the established worship.^[10] Weekley dates the phrase the nonconformist conscience to about 1890, in connection with Parnell.^[9] In 1869 the name was also given to a moth.^[2]

Timeline

• 1618 – a clergyman adhering to the doctrine but not the usages of the Church of England.^[2][7]
• 1641 – adjective, relating to nonconformists.^[2]
• 1662 – after the Act of Uniformity, the ejected ministers and their churches.^[3][9]
• 1672 – any Christian dissenting from an established church.^[2]
• before 1677 – a person who does not conform to a particular practice.^[2]
• 1680s – the shortened form non-con.^[3]
• 1869 – a noctuid moth, Lithophane lamda.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who does not follow generally accepted beliefs, customs or ways of behaving: In her family she was always the nonconformist.^[11][12][7]
2. Often Nonconformist: a member of a Protestant church separated from the Church of England; a dissenter.^[11][7][2]
3. More generally, a Christian who does not accept the doctrine or practices of an established church.^[7][2]
4. (historical) One of the clergymen who left the Church of England in 1662 rather than submit to the Act of Uniformity, or, earlier, a clergyman who kept its doctrine but not its usages.^[7][2]
5. A moth, Lithophane lamda, with mottled purplish-grey forewings.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. Not conforming to accepted patterns of thought or behaviour: a nonconformist streak.^[11][7]
2. Often Nonconformist: relating to Nonconformists or their churches: a Nonconformist chapel.^[11][7][2]

Word family

• nonconformism

Related words

• conformist
• conform
• nonconformity

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin