Nonconvert

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person who has not adopted a particular religion, faith, or set of beliefs that others have embraced
2. Someone who remains outside a faith or belief system and has not changed allegiance to it
3. An individual who has stayed with their original religion or viewpoint rather than adopting a new one

Etymology: Latin "convertere" meant to turn something completely around, and English "convert" kept that physical sense before it came to describe a change of belief. A convert is someone who has turned from one faith to another, the image of turning carried over from the Latin. "Non-" is the Latin negative "non," meaning "not," and English attaches it freely to nouns to mark the absence of a quality. A nonconvert is therefore someone who has not turned to a faith, a person who stays outside a religious community, whether through indifference or through commitment to a different path. The word is a transparent formation, not an old term with a hidden history. Its meaning follows directly from its two parts: a negative prefix added to a familiar noun.

Synonyms: nonbeliever

Antonyms: convert