| English Dictionary |
UNCONVENTIONAL
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Dictionary entry overview: What does unconventional mean?
• UNCONVENTIONAL (adjective)
The adjective UNCONVENTIONAL has 3 senses:
1. not conforming to accepted rules or standards
2. not conventional or conformist
3. not conforming to legality, moral law, or social convention
Familiarity information: UNCONVENTIONAL used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not conforming to accepted rules or standards
Context example:
her unconventional dress and hair style
Similar:
bohemian (unconventional in especially appearance and behavior)
go-as-you-please (not bound by rule or law or convention)
irregular; maverick; unorthodox (independent in behavior or thought)
Also:
original (being or productive of something fresh and unusual; or being as first made or thought of)
Attribute:
convention; conventionalism; conventionality (orthodoxy as a consequence of being conventional)
Antonym:
conventional (following accepted customs and proprieties)
Derivation:
unconventionality (originality by virtue of being unconventional)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not conventional or conformist
Context example:
unconventional life styles
Similar:
alternative (pertaining to unconventional choices)
bizarre; eccentric; flakey; flaky; freakish; freaky; gonzo; off-the-wall; outlandish; outre (conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual)
devil-may-care; raffish; rakish (marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness)
far-out; kinky; offbeat; quirky; way-out ((informal) strikingly unconventional)
funky (stylish and modern in an unconventional way)
spaced-out; spacey; spacy (stupefied by (or as if by) some narcotic drug)
Antonym:
conventional (following accepted customs and proprieties)
conventional (unimaginative and conformist)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not conforming to legality, moral law, or social convention
Synonyms:
improper; unconventional; unlawful
Context example:
improper banking practices
Similar:
irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)
Derivation:
unconventionality (unorthodoxy by virtue of being unconventional)
Context examples
This allele, which encodes unconventional prefoldin RPB5 interactor protein, plays a role in the modulation of gene transcription.
(C19orf2 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)
Our client looked down with a rueful face at his own unconventional appearance.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The unconventional use of electromagnetic fields for medical or therapeutic purposes.
(Electromagnetic-Based Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)
This sub-category deals with unconventional approaches whose purpose is to screen for and prevent health-related imbalances, dysfunction's and disease.
(Clinical Preventive Practices, NCI Thesaurus)
The unconventional use of electromagnetic fields for medical purposes.
(Bioelectromagnetics, NCI Thesaurus)
The antibiotic, first identified by Nosopharm, is unique and promising on two fronts: its unconventional source and its distinct way of killing bacteria, both of which suggest the compound may be effective at treating drug-resistant or hard-to-treat bacterial infections.
(A New Class of Antibiotics to Combat Drug Resistance, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Additionally, their physical structure and chemical behaviour give researchers a valuable insight into how a safe, super-fast charging battery could be constructed, and suggest that the solution to next-generation batteries may come from unconventional materials.
(New class of materials could be used to make batteries that charge faster, University of Cambridge)
“I must apologise for calling so late,” said he, “and I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall.”
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Examples include, unconventional screening and diagnostic practices, such as electro-dermal diagnostics, medical intuition, chiriography, functional cellular enzyme measures, and preventive practices such as panchakarma.
(Clinical Preventive Practices, NCI Thesaurus)
She spoke in rapid and fluent but very unconventional English, which, for the sake of clearness, I will make grammatical.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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