nonconformity Look up nonconformity at Dictionary.com
1618, coined in Eng., originally of Church of England clergymen who refused to conform on certain ceremonies. Nonconformist is from 1619, in the religious sense; after their ejection under the Act of Uniformity (1662) the name passed to the separate churches they joined or formed. General sense of "one who does not participate in a practice or course of action" is from 1677.