Nonstandard

Alternative forms

• non-standard

Origin

- + standard

Full definition of nonstandard

Adjective

1. Not standard.
2. (linguistics) Not conforming to the language as used by the majority of its speakers.
• 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course Chapter 9The resulting sequence of covert wh-pronoun + Complementiser has an overt counterpart in nonstandard varieties of English, as the following example (recorded from a BBC radio programme) illustrates:
  (91)      England put themselves in a position that they took a lot of credit for tonightʼs game (Ron Greenwood, BBC radio 4)

Derived terms

• nonstandard dialect
• nonstandard item
• nonstandard method
• nonstandard unit

Noun

1. Something that is not standard.
• 2008, Robert Cowart, Brian Knittel, Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows Vista (page 438)Unlike the TV standard we are all accustomed to, the Web is the wild, wild West of video nonstandards.