nonlinear

adjective

non·​lin·​e·​ar ˌnän-ˈli-nē-ər 

: not linear

nonlinear thinking

a nonlinear narrative

… I was already interested in the nonlinear manner in which ideas and fashions travel through our culture …

—Lyall Watson

nonlinearity

ˌnän-ˌli-nē-ˈer-ə-tē 

-ˈa-rə-

noun

plural nonlinearities

nonlinearly adverb

Examples of nonlinear in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The director has also preserved Homer’s nonlinear narrative structure, with tales nesting within tales. — ArsTechnica, 1 Aug. 2026

Curiously, the show’s rapid jumps in time and mood were nonlinear; there was no narrative conceit holding everything together. — Mitch Therieau, New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2026

SpaceX is an unusually difficult case because so much of its value lies in distant, nonlinear and related-party-entangled businesses with little public operating history. — Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Their story is told in a nonlinear fashion, with the actors jumping between time frames throughout the nearly two-hour runtime. — Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 16 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1884, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nonlinear

• mynheer
• seignior
• signior
• bilinear
• collinear
• nonnuclear
• overseer
• curvilinear
• interlinear
• rectilinear
• dier
• freer