anticonformity
Purposeful bucking trends
Anticonformity is deliberate opposition to prevailing norms or expectations—not merely failing to conform but actively choosing the opposite.
Where nonconformity might simply ignore convention, anticonformity defines itself against it: His anticonformity meant he'd reject anything popular on principle.
The stance can signal independence or become its own kind of conformity to a contrarian identity.
Open resistance to authority
- revoltOrganized resistance to power
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- insurgenceRevolt against established authority
subversion · sedition · mutiny · disobedience · activism · radicalism · uprising · riot
One excluded from group
- misfitOne who doesn't fit in
- deviantOne diverging from norms
- outcastShunned, rejected person
- black sheepDisreputable family member
loner · renegade · pariah · rebel · heretic · dissident · gadfly · provocateur
Sixties counterculture member
- beatnikFifties counterculture member
- bohemianArtistic nonconformist type
- punkRaw, fast rock genre
- grungeAccumulated dirt or filth
underground · zine · commune · free love · Woodstock · psychedelic · mod · skate
Conveying one's inner world
- uniquenessQuality of being singular
- originalityNovel creative quality
- maverickIndependent-minded rule-breaker
- eccentricUnconventional in character
idiosyncrasy · distinctiveness · authenticity · self-identity · differentiation · unconventional · free spirit · independent thinker
defiance
Open resistance to authority
- revoltOrganized resistance to power
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- dissentDisagreement with authority
insurgence · subversion · sedition · mutiny · disobedience · activism · radicalism · uprising · riot · strike
outsider
One excluded from group
black sheep · loner · renegade · pariah · rebel · heretic · dissident · gadfly · provocateur · troublemaker
hippie
Sixties counterculture member
grunge · underground · zine · commune · free love · Woodstock · psychedelic · mod · skate · anarchism
self-expression
Conveying one's inner world
- uniquenessQuality of being singular
- originalityNovel creative quality
- maverickIndependent-minded rule-breaker
eccentric · idiosyncrasy · distinctiveness · authenticity · self-identity · differentiation · unconventional · free spirit · independent thinker · self-styled
anticonformityconformity
Adherence to norms
conformism · compliance · obedience · conventionality · toeing the line
anticonformitygroupthink
Conformity-driven poor decisions
herd mentality · collectivism · uniformity · homogeneity · like-mindedness
conform, conformity, conformist, nonconformist, nonconformity, conformable, unconformity, conformism, disconformity