Nonsequential

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Not occurring or arranged in a regular or logical order
2. Lacking a consecutive or step-by-step progression
3. Organized or happening in a manner that does not follow a fixed sequence

Etymology: "Nonsequential" is a plain formation: the prefix "non-" attached to "sequential," meaning not arranged in a successive order. The prefix goes back to Old English "nān," meaning "not one" or "none," which was reduced to "non" in Middle English and then came to function as a general negating element in English word-building. "Sequential" itself comes from the Latin "sequentia," the noun for a following or succession, derived from "sequi," to follow. That same Latin root gives English "sequence," "consequence" and "second." So the word is a negated form of an idea that is about things coming one after another in a fixed succession.

Synonyms: disordered, random

Antonyms: sequential, ordered