untraditional

adjective

un·​tra·​di·​tion·​al

ˌən-trə-ˈdi-sh(ə-)nəl

 

: not adhering to past practices or conventions : not traditional

an untraditional wardrobe

untraditional methods

… a recipe for paella containing the hitherto untraditional combination of chicken and shrimp.

—David Rosengarten

untraditionally adverb

Untraditionally, Santa brought along his elves on all-terrain vehicles instead of Rudolph and his pals.

—Melanie Mizenko

Examples of untraditional in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The purpose of the collection is to show denim can be woven into everyday wear in untraditional ways and how Lycra fibers can be applied to a variety of styles, including ones that do not hug the body. —Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 22 Apr. 2025

By slashing interest rates to make borrowing easier for U.S. households and companies, along with several untraditional moves to juice the economy, the Fed helped the U.S. economy recover from the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 COVID crash and other bear markets. —Elaine Kurtenbach, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Apr. 2025

Democratic attorneys general are turning to new media to mount their resistance to Trump 2.0, using untraditional means to win in the court of public opinion while waging legal battles in courtrooms across the country. —Ella Lee, The Hill, 2 Apr. 2025

Hidden in plain sight, amidst the off-kilter impressionism and untraditional arrangements, is the band’s innate sense of melody. —Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 26 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1934, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for untraditional

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