nonrevolutionary

adjective

non·​rev·​o·​lu·​tion·​ary ˌnän-ˌre-və-ˈlü-shə-ˌner-ē How to pronounce nonrevolutionary (audio)
: not revolutionary: such as
a
: not of, relating to, or constituting a revolution
a nonrevolutionary era
Even by nonrevolutionary standards, riots in England were not all that riotous, as another historian has observed.Gertrude Himmelfarb
b
: not favoring or promoting revolution
nonrevolutionary middle class attitudes
c
: not constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change
a welcome but nonrevolutionary innovation

Examples of nonrevolutionary in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Their school, an extension of conversations held in their kitchen, was designed to achieve that single, nonrevolutionary goal. Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 14 Nov. 2022 But during the Cultural Revolution the genre was banned, along with other nonrevolutionary literature, and even science itself was subjected to ideological-purity tests. Jiayang Fan, The New Yorker, 17 June 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nonrevolutionary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nonrevolutionary was in 1867

Dictionary Entries Near nonrevolutionary

Cite this Entry

“Nonrevolutionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonrevolutionary. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

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