Nonadopter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who resists or declines to take up a new practice, technology, or innovation that others have embraced
2. Someone who refuses or fails to adopt something new, whether a product, method, belief, or social change
3. An individual who does not embrace or accept a novel development, standard, or practice that has gained acceptance elsewhere

Etymology: "Nonadopter" is formed from the prefix "non-", meaning "not," attached to "adopter," someone who adopts something. Its literal sense is simply one who does not adopt, most often a person who declines to take up a new technology, practice or idea that others have embraced. The base word "adopter" comes from "adopt," which traces back through Old French to the Latin "adoptare," meaning to choose or take someone as one's own. Adding "non-" to a word like this is a common English pattern, producing terms such as "nonexistent" or "nonmember" that name the absence of a quality rather than its opposite.

Synonyms: non-adopter, rejector, holdout

Antonyms: adopter, early adopter