1. Not conformable or correspondent to something. Also without const.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. vii. § 4. Vnto those generall rules … we doe not defend that we may hold any thing vnconformable.
1598–9. E. Forde, Parismus, II. (1672), 73. So far is this Picture unconformable to the perfect description of her cælestial perfections, as far as is black from white.
a. 1688. Cudworth, Immut. Mor. (1731), 157. This must not be granted, that the Modes of Conception in the Understanding … are disagreeable to the Reality of the Things conceived by them; and so being unconformable, are therefore False.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 145, ¶ 7. We retain still a Quilted one [sc. petticoat] underneath, which makes us not altogether unconformable to the Fashion.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 11. The … Parts may not be unconformable to the Rules of Art.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), I. 156. In so far as it is the will … of the witness, that his testimony … be in any respect unconformable to the real state of the case.
1883. M. Pattison, Mem. (1885), 299. He wanted to get me out as an unconformable element.
b. Of persons: Unwilling to conform. (Cf. next.)
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 173. That People … would not appear unconformable to his Majesty’s wish in any particular.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, I. iv. 76. His libidinous and unconformable Proselytes.
2. spec. in Eng. Hist. Not conforming to the usages of the Church of England, in later use esp. as prescribed by the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Also const. to. (Cf. NON-CONFORMABLE a.)
1611. A. Stafford, Niobe, 175. These men, whose puritie hath made them vnconformable to the present Discipline of the Church.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., IV. § 10. The recommending some seditious, Unconformable Ministers, to be Lecturers in Churches about London.
1672. Baxter, Bagshaw’s Scand., ii. 32. Could you wish … that the … Protestant Religion were kept up by none but the unconformable Ministers in private?
1732. Neal, Hist. Purit., I. 307. Many ministers of his diocese being returned unconformable, were suspended.
1736. Chandler, Hist. Persec., 358. A warrant from the Council … to stop all ministers unconformable to the discipline and ceremonies of the Church.
1861. G. G. Perry, Hist. Ch. Eng., I. xvi. 591. Unconformable clergy could be reduced … into a sullen outward compliance.
3. Geol. Not having the same direction or plane of stratification. Also const. to.
1813. Bakewell, Introd. Geol. (1815), 76. Granite is sometimes met with not under the slate rocks, but resting upon them in an unconformable position.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 201. The travertin is unconformable to the lacustrine beds.
1882. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., IV. x. 601. Wherever one series of rocks is found to rest upon a highly denuded surface of an older series, the junction is unconformable.
Hence Unconformableness.
1711. Phil. Trans., XXVII. 329. The unconformableness that the Figure of the compounded Globe had to a perfect Sphere.
