maverick

noun mav·er·ick \ ˈmav-rik , ˈma-və- \

Definition of maverick

1 :an unbranded range animal; especially :a motherless calf

2 :an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party

See maverick defined for English-language learners

See maverick defined for kids

maverick was our Word of the Day on 07/28/2013. Hear the podcast!

Examples of maverick in a Sentence

Let him refind his inner rebel, the famous irreverent maverick, let the tiger out of the cage. —Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 28–29 June 2008
In the Senate, however, he had established himself as a bright and prickly maverick, not averse to sharp criticism of his own party, its policies, and its leaders, most especially Bill Clinton. —John Gregory Dunne, New York Review of Books, 13 June 2002
This, of course, is dangerous for the rest of us. With one successfully repatriated daughter, Papi might yank us all out of college and send us back. Not to mention that it's out and out creepy that Fifi, the maverick, is so changed. —Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, 1991
there's always one maverick who has to go his own way

Recent Examples of maverick from the Web

For all its image as a maverick, IEX has no intention of toughening listing requirements to satisfy shareholder-rights advocates.

— annie massa, Bloomberg.com, "‘Flash Boys’ IEX Tries to Lure Listings From Giants NYSE, Nasdaq," 11 Aug. 2017
With a jolt from a tiny chip, humdrum skin cells may transform into medical mavericks.

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "Heal thyself: Skin-zapping chip aims to reprogram cells for tissue repair," 10 Aug. 2017
McCain seemed to relish his return to maverick and breaking with his party.

— alana abramson, Time, "Three Republicans Just Derailed the Senate Health Care Bill," 27 July 2017
He’s been called a hero and a maverick and a man of courage throughout his life.

— dan balz, Washington Post, "For John McCain, character comes through," 22 July 2017
What emerges is a portrait not just of a creative maverick, but also of an artist who constantly negotiated her womanhood and strove to tell the stories of ordinary black women.

— lovia gyarkye, New Republic, "The Importance of Being Ordinary," 19 July 2017
Style mavericks like Shia LaBeouf, Jared Leto (way back in 2006 even), and world's most snuggly monarch Prince George have become unofficial brand ambassadors for Crocs.

— liza corsillo, GQ, "Crocs Might Now Be Cool, and It's Tearing GQ Apart," 12 July 2017
But some just can’t bring themselves to wear the fitted suits or the fake smiles, and these are the ones Cube gravitates toward, the mavericks most comfortable on the blacktop despite its cracks.

— lee jenkins, SI.com, "How Allen Iverson finally found his way home," 26 June 2017
But then, as now, there were five stars that were mavericks or wild cards.

— mike lynch / sky watch, Twin Cities, "Sky Watch: The case of the wandering ‘stars’," 10 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'maverick.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

When a client gave Samuel A. Maverick 400 cattle to settle a $1,200 debt, the 19th-century south Texas lawyer had no use for them, so he left the cattle unbranded and allowed them to roam freely (supposedly under the supervision of one of his employees). Neighboring stockmen recognized their opportunity and seized it, branding and herding the stray cattle as their own. Maverick eventually recognized the folly of the situation and sold what was left of his depleted herd, but not before his name became synonymous with such unbranded livestock. By the end of the 19th century, the term maverick was being used to refer to individuals who prefer to blaze their own trails.

Origin and Etymology of maverick

Samuel A. Maverick †1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1867

See Words from the same year

maverick Synonyms

Synonyms

bohemian, boho, counterculturist, deviant, enfant terrible, free spirit, heretic, iconoclast, individualist, loner, lone ranger, lone wolf, nonconformist, nonconformer

Antonyms

conformer, conformist

Related Words

freethinker; character, codger, crackbrain, crackpot, crank, eccentric, freak, kook, nut, oddball, screwball, weirdo; eight ball, misfit, outsider; aberrant, anomaly

Near Antonyms

adherent, follower, supporter; sheep

Other Animal Husbandry Terms

apiary, bantam, calico, girth, hogwash, mast, rut

maverick

adjective mav·er·ick \ ˈmav-rik , ˈma-və- \

Definition of maverick

:characteristic of, suggestive of, or inclined to be a maverick

Examples of maverick in a Sentence

Occasionally nerves and veins take maverick pathways and show up in unexpected places. —Virginia Holman, Double Take, Winter 2002
Later British units, deprived of the opportunity for maverick expression by a revamped chain of UN command with a different political agenda, started spouting the organization's euphemisms that sought to paint every Bosnian side the same shade of guilty grey. —Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, I Miss It So, 1999
He was maverick enough, original-minded enough, however, to realize that he could do better than simply follow Murray's orders to the letter. —Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998
George Sand's maverick views on marriage scandalized 19th-century French society.

Recent Examples of maverick from the Web

Launched by maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and run by Rodriguez and his artistic collective, El Rey Holdings, LLC oversees El Rey Network and El Rey Studios.

— posted jim varsallone, miamiherald, "Joey Ryan, feud of sons on Lucha Underground on El Rey Network," 29 Aug. 2017
But McCain, trying to live up to his maverick image one more time, would not budge.

— russell berman, The Atlantic, "John McCain's 'No' Vote Sinks Republicans' 'Skinny Repeal' Plan," 28 July 2017
Brooks has somewhat of a maverick edge to him and backed Ted Cruz in 2016.

— john sharp | jsharp@al.com, AL.com, "Alabama Senate race: Your questions answered," 25 July 2017
Amazon.com Inc.’s planned $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. unites two maverick businessmen who will now have to blend very distinct approaches to make the deal a success.

— laura stevens and heather haddon, WSJ, "Amazon Deal for Whole Foods Unites Maverick CEOs," 18 June 2017
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

— the tylt, AL.com, "Michael J. Fox's best '80s movie: 'Teen Wolf' or 'Back to the Future'?," 13 June 2017
NEW WORLD ORDER: -- Senate Democrats, along with at least one maverick Republican, are attempting to push back on Trump’s warming of relations with Saudi Arabia, in particular regarding an arms deal to the country.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Leftward lurch in Democratic gubernatorial primary reflects the transformation of Virginia," 13 June 2017
Then, an unidentified member in the audience at my talk about Uber at the university’s Rotman School of Management challenged my assertion that the maverick San Francisco startup had changed anything.

— aaron pressman, Fortune, "Data Sheet—Monday, June 5, 2017," 5 June 2017
Leave it to Mr. Gordon, a maverick performer since his experiments with Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s, to reinvigorate the art of archiving.

— siobhan burke, New York Times, "Dance in NYC This Week," 25 May 2017