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Glite Dictionary
🧣 Unconventional 🎨 An unconventional person
bohemian

bohemian

15 7.3
Not following normal social rules in life or dress, often in an artistic way
  • adjective
  • /boʊˈhiːmiən/
translation icon : bohemio
  • Indeed, for all the damage done by the sadece trade, the Quartier retained its bohemian charm.
  • bohemian artist
  • bohemian existence
  • bohemian life

But I knew that going into it and I wanted kind of more of a, I guess bohemian experience.

Examples

  • Doesn't it work with this whole aesthetic, this bohemian vibe?

  • The restaurant was a fashionably bohemian seafood place, set above a pub.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The lights turn on, and then they enter a very bohemian apartment.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • You hung around with the bohemian crowd.

    Rare Birds (2001)

  • The younger people will understand the bohemian side and the rebellion.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Their interest in poetry, painting, and acting attracted them to a circle of bohemian artists and writers.

    Academic text (1996)

  • It just makes me realize that we both grew up in this sort of bohemian, unorthodox, spend months, you know, at a time in foreign lands.

  • In the mid-1990s, the Chinese Arts Centre relocated from Manchester's Chinatown to its 'bohemian' Northern Quarter district.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The jet-setters have Sardinia; this is a resort with bohemian roots and small-town charm.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Many artists are drawn to the bohemian lifestyle, embracing free expression and creativity.

Synonyms

eccentric
vsbohemian
99 7.2

Different from normal in a way people notice

is less extreme, focusing on nonstandard appearance or lifestyle without gross oddity
boho
vsbohemian
  • Informal
7.5

Having an artistic, free-spirited style that mixes vintage and handmade items

is broader, meaning general unconventional appearance and lifestyle rather than a fashion style

Antonyms

conventional
175 2.8

Doing things in the usual way most people expect, not new or original

Compounds

Bohemian waxwing
9.3

A large grey-brown bird with a pointed crest and red-tipped wing feathers

How Unconventional

flamboyant
35 6.5
bohemian
15 7.3
conventional
175 2.8
quirky
67 4.4

Surface Forms

bohemian positive

Morphology

bohemian = Bohemia (opaque) = bohemia + an

Although formed from the place-name 'Bohemia' plus '-an', the adjectival meaning 'unconventional in appearance or lifestyle' comes from cultural usage and is not a predictable demonymic meaning for learners.

Etymology

Bohemian as an adjective comes from the same story: it began linked to Bohemia and then to wandering artists, so when we call a style or life 'bohemian' we mean it is 'unconventional' and free-spirited.