conformist

1 of 2

noun

con·​form·​ist kən-ˈfȯr-mist 

plural conformists

: one who conforms : a person who behaves in accordance with prevailing standards or customs and typically dislikes or avoids unconventional behavior

I'm running with the herd and swimming with the tide and being a good little conformist.

—Florence King

If most people you know are following a certain course, you may want to do the same—not because you are a conformist, but because so many people are unlikely to be wrong.

—Cass R. Sunstein

… the problem that many big-media journalists are now cautious, well-paid conformists distant from their audiences …

—James Poniewozik

conformist

2 of 2

adjective

: following or seeking to enforce prevailing standards or customs : opposing or avoiding unconventional thinking and behavior

The Franks were pious, conformist, and warlike; the Occitans, fun-loving and free-thinking.

—Joan Acocella

… offering two visions of a future based on choosing a less conformist society.

—Tracie Richardson

In eight essays, some previously published … Harper argues that conformist demands for so-called proper gender identities for the race have limited cultural images and life itself.

—Thomas Davis

The original Beats rebelled against a postwar society they saw as staid, conformist and commercial.

—Jeff Giles and Michael Rubiner

Examples of conformist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Published 70 years ago, this shocking poem was a powerful rebuke to conformists in 1950s America. —Air Mail, 27 Sep. 2025

To me, an American woman in the early 21st century, prickly and free-spirited Lady Murasaki now appears to have been chafing under conformist pressures in the Heian court. —Lauren Groff, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025

Adjective

Saft comes from Levittown, Long Island, the prototype for conformist, white-picketed American suburbia. —Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025

To me, an American woman in the early 21st century, prickly and free-spirited Lady Murasaki now appears to have been chafing under conformist pressures in the Heian court. —Lauren Groff, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1651, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1677, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for conformist

• reformist
• nonconformist
• warmest