nonconformity
(nɒnkənˈfɔːmɪtɪ)
[non- 1.]
1. Refusal to conform to the doctrine, discipline, or polity of an established church, orig. and now esp. of the Church of England; the principles or practice of Nonconformists; in modern use, usually = Protestant dissent. Also, Nonconformists as a body. (Usually with capital N.)
| 1618 Donne Serm. (1661) III. 25 He confesses that he hath received good instruction, but he refuses to conform himself unto it; there's Non-conformity. 1641 R. Brooke Eng. Episc. 96 In Queen Elizabeths time many good men were cut off from the Church... And all this for one word of their owne compounding, Non-conformity. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. 401 Non-conformity in the daies of King Edward. 1663 Heath Flagellum (1672) 13 Orthodox Divines, no way given to that Schisme of Non-Conformity, into which Oliver soon after fell. a 1731 Calamy Life (1829) I. i. 65 My father, in the year 1662,..was for his nonconformity ejected from a good living. 1860 L. V. Harcourt Diaries G. Rose II. 278 The ultimate designs of political nonconformity. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 82/1 Nonconformity, which formerly had no hold upon Little Russia,..has suddenly begun to make progress there in the shape of the ‘Stunda’, a mixture of Protestant and rationalisitc teaching. 1898 Times 29 Oct. 13/6 The Bishop said that..neither Rome on the one hand nor Nonconformity on the other trusted their ministers as the Church confided in the priesthood of England. |
2. Want of conformity or refusal to conform to a rule, practice, or requirement. Const. to, with.
| 1682 2nd Plea Nonconformists 13 Their Nonconformity to the Act of Uniformity. a 1720 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. ii. 142 Their nonconformity with the Vulgar Salutation, and their saying Thou and Thee. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. lviii. (1844) II. 233 In case of non-conformity to this indispensable form. 1879 Spencer Data Ethics vi. §37. 95 The..sufferings caused by nonconformity to the laws of life. |
3. Want of correspondence, agreement, or adaptability between persons or things.
| 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 269 Never was there such Incongruity and Nonconformity in their furniture. 1763 Jon. Mayhew (title), Observations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel..; designed to shew their nonconformity to each other. 1846 De Quincey Shelley Wks. 1890 XI. 372 Nonconformity of tastes might easily arise between two parties, without much blame to either. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 240 The girl..was apt to meet his seriousness with something savouring of coquetry... But the nonconformity was more evanescent than the early dew. 1886 Law Rep., Weekly Notes 188/1 The nonconformity of the complete specification with the provisional specification. |