Meanings
comparative more unorthodox · superlative most unorthodox
- Unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic.
The breakthrough came after 63 minutes as United’s unorthodox defence desperately tried to hold off a spell of sustained pressure.
2014 November 2, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 25 May 20211 more example
A driving teacher in China is using an unorthodox method to get his students to drive with more care. He calls it the “fatal blow” method. Basically, students have to manoeuvre the car with skill or risk crushing their smartphones... or those of their classmates.
2018 April 18, “Chinese driving school makes students put phones on line”, in AP News, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2018Synonyms: heterodox, inorthodox, nonorthodox, blasphemous, haram, heretical, heterodox, inorthodox · Antonyms: orthodox
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveUnusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveindependent in behavior or thought
adjectivebreaking with convention or tradition
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishorthodox
- Englishunorthodox
Translations
Arabic غير تقليدي
- غير تقليدي (ghayr taqlidiin)unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Bulgarian необикновен, особен
- необикновен (neobiknoven)unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- особен (osoben)unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Catalan heterodox
- heterodoxunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Czech neortodoxní
- neortodoxníunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Danish uortodoks
- uortodoksunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Dutch onorthodox
- onorthodoxunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Finnish epäortodoksinen
- epäortodoksinenunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
French hétérodoxe, non-conformiste
- hétérodoxeunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- non-conformisteunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
German unorthodox
- unorthodoxunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Greek ανορθόδοξος
- ανορθόδοξος (anorthódoxos)unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Hindi अपरंपरागत
- अपरंपरागत (apramprāgat)unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Hungarian heterodox
- heterodoxunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Italian inusuale, poco convenzionale
- inusualeunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- poco convenzionaleunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- poco ortodossounusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- peculiareunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- eccentricounusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Latin abnōrmis
- abnōrmisunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Māori korokē
- korokēunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Norwegian uortodoks
- uortodoksunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Polish nieszablonowy
- nieszablonowyunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Portuguese pouco ortodoxo
- pouco ortodoxounusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Romanian neortodox, neconvențional
- neortodoxunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- neconvenționalunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Russian неортодоксальный
- неортодоксальный (neortodoksalʹnyj)unusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Spanish heterodoxo
- heterodoxounusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Swedish oortodox
- oortodoxunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Thai แหวกแนว
- แหวกแนวunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Turkish gelenek dışı, alışılmamış
- gelenek dışıunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
- alışılmamışunusual, unconventional, or idiosyncratic
Cite this entry
unorthodox. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unorthodox
“unorthodox.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unorthodox. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unorthodox,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unorthodox.
Source: unorthodox on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.