nontraditional

adjective

non·​tra·​di·​tion·​al ˌnän-trə-ˈdish-nəl 

-ˈdi-shə-nᵊl

: not following or conforming to tradition : not adhering to past practices or conventions : not traditional

a nontraditional family

nontraditional students

nontraditional menu items

Many use nontraditional teaching techniques, and they deliberately draw their students from beyond traditional neighborhood boundaries …

—Thomas Toch

nontraditionally adverb

… to learn how to build and sell cars nontraditionally …

—Michael Schrage

Synonyms

• unconventional
• modern
• liberal
• progressive
• contemporary
• nonconventional
• radical

Examples of nontraditional in a Sentence

a nontraditional couple who are planning a very unconventional wedding

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, the company gave the job to Josie Wheeler, a nontraditional hire who’d joined the company in 2019 as an apprentice. —Andy Tonsing, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

Martucci offers a bit of a different experience at his I Masanielli, merging pizza with fine-dining techniques to play the temperature at which pizza is cooked and including nontraditional toppings like onion mayonnaise. —Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 8 Sep. 2025

Schoemann denied any wrongdoing, saying the county engaged in a nontraditional but widely publicized process seeking ideas for the property and the school's $3 million proposal was the best financial option. —Kelly Meyerhofer, jsonline.com, 28 Aug. 2025

If Sanders opened the door for other nontraditional hires, whether the trend continues depends on their success. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 28 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing nontraditional

• nontraditional family
• nontraditional student

Rhymes for nontraditional

• compositional
• definitional
• depositional
• dispositional
• intuitional
• oppositional
• prepositional
• propositional
• unconditional
• additional
• conditional
• nutritional