nonbelonging

N1O1N1B3E1L1O1N1G2I1N1G2

noun

An absence of belonging; the state of not being (recognised as) a member of a community, etc.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounnonbelonging (countable and uncountable, plural nonbelongings)

plural nonbelongings · alternative non-belonging

  1. countableuncountableAn absence of belonging; the state of not being (recognised as) a member of a community, etc.

    They show us that temporary linguistic/cultural outsidedness, situated ethical nonbelongings, or located singular desires to belong "outside the divisiveness of categorizing" (Probyn, Outside 10) are conditions which nurture a transcultural imaginary and understanding.

    2015, Arianna Dagnino, Transcultural Writers and Novels in the Age of Global Mobility, page 172
    2 more examples

    Terror is daily increasing and people are shot not only for agitation against the Soviet Government or for any other accusation; the nonbelonging to the Soviet service or relatives being abroad or the possibility of intending to join a new government are sufficient reasons for execution.

    1919, New York (State), Legislature, Assembly, Standing Committee on the Judiciary, Louis M. Martin, Louis Waldman, August Claessens, Samuel Aaron DeWitt, Samuel Orr, Charles Solomon, Exhibits, page 490

    These nonbelongings constitute the limits of transcendental subjectivity, that which transcends the subject, and this includes the "intentional objects " or noematic correlates of lived experience, as Husserl refers to them, the intersubjective world of others, and "an ideal world populated by cultural formations and the human community" (WP 47/QP 48).

    2016, Jeffrey A. Bell, Deleuze and Guattari's What Is Philosophy?, A Critical Introduction and Guide

Origin

From non- + belonging. First use appears c. 1919. See cite below.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

nonbelonging. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonbelonging

MLA

“nonbelonging.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonbelonging. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonbelonging,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonbelonging.

Source: nonbelonging on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.