inconformity
(ɪnkənˈfɔːmɪtɪ)
[f. in-3 + conformity.]
Want of conformity.
1. Want of correspondence in form or manner; want of agreement in character; dissimilarity; want of conformity to († unto) or with a pattern.
| 1625 Bacon Ess., Innovations (Arb.) 527 New Things peece not so well; But though they helpe by their vtility, yet they trouble by their Inconformity. 1661 R. L'Estrange Interest Mistaken 65 We find an Inconformity of Practise to Profession. 1665 J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 205 The Dissimilitude or Inconformity betwixt Stone-Heng and the Monuments in..Denmark. 1711 Strype Parker an. 1573 (R.), Neither did he, I believe, ever endeavour for it, knowing his own inconformity. 1890 J. Martineau Seat Author. Relig. v. i. 593 The chief difference..lies in the conformity or inconformity of the seeming fact with expectations. |
2. Refusal or omission to conform to some rule, standard, or fashion; want of conformity with a guide or pattern.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. iv. §1 [abridging Cartwright, who, however, has not the word] Utter inconformity therefore with the church of Rome in these things, is the best and surest policie which the Church can vse. 1597 ― E.P. v. lxxxi. §11 It being better that the Church should want altogether the benefit of such mens labours, than indure the mischiefe of their inconformitie to good Lawes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xv. 74 Conformity or Inconformity of Manners to Reason. 1681 Manton Serm. Ps. cxix. 80 Wks. 1872 VII. 346 God..taketh notice of our conformity and inconformity to his will. |
3. spec. Want of conformity in worship; refusal to conform to the religious worship or ecclesiastical polity established or publicly recognized; = nonconformity.
| 1633 Laud Wks. (1853) V. 320 His lordship certifies that he hath suspended a lecturer for his inconformity. 1644 Bp. St. Asaph Let. to Laud in Hist. Nonconf. Wales (1861) 10 They were not any where troubled with Inconformity. 1667 J. Corbet Disc. Relig. Eng. 23 As for the Ministers of this Perswasion, some have called them Fools for their Inconformity. 1824 Southey Bk. of Ch. (1841) 447 Inconformity had become well nigh general. 1861 W. S. Perry Hist. Ch. Eng. I. xiv. 510 We might almost imagine that..there was scarce any disaffection, inconformity, or difference of opinion prevalent. |
b. An instance of this; a practice not in conformity with the recognized form of religion.
| a 1662 Heylin Laud i. (1668) 124 All Calvinians are not to be counted as Puritans also; whose practices many of them abhor, and whose inconformities they detest. |