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nonobservance

nonobservance

8.5
Not following a law, rule, or custom
  • noun
  • /ˌnɒnəbˈzɜːrvəns/
translation icon : incumplimiento
  • The nonobservance of traffic laws can lead to dangerous accidents.

Examples

  • Cultivators interpreted these incidents as divine and ancestral punishment for nonobservance of taboo days (Courrier de Madagascar 1968).

    Academic text (1994)
  • Carrying out, or even witnessing, deliberate nonobservance of international norms, whatever the justification, likely erodes identification with those norms, deteriorating whatever compliance effect their internalization had brought about.

    Academic text (2017)
  • As for the nonobservance of the Chinese constitution, one must remember that the situation in Hong Kong is quite different from that in China proper.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Individuals who have socially unconventional behavior, e.g., drinking alcohol, premarital sexual practices, or the nonobservance of public rules for the fasting month may be taken to psychiatrists by their family elders in some Gulf communities for assessment of their mental state.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Due to the nonobservance of company policies, several employees received warnings.

  • The teacher emphasized that nonobservance of classroom rules would result in consequences.

Synonyms

violation
vsnonobservance
418 4.1

Breaking a law, rule, agreement, or someone's rights

focuses on an active breach rather than a simple failure to keep to rules
disobedience
vsnonobservance
55 4.2

Refusing to obey rules or people in charge

is a general failure to keep to rules beyond just refusing authority orders
noncompliance
vsnonobservance
7 7.7

Failure to follow a rule, order, or request

is about failing to keep to laws, customs, or wider practices
contravention
vsnonobservance
  • Formal
4 8.9

An action that breaks a law or rule

is the general failure to keep to rules rather than an active illegal act
nonconformity
vsnonobservance
2 7.7

Not following accepted social and religious rules

is focused on general failure to keep to laws, customs, rules, or practices
nonadherence
vsnonobservance
  • Specialized
1 8.6

Not following a rule, instruction, or prescribed medicine

is about failing to keep to laws, customs, rules, or everyday practices
nonobservation
vsnonobservance
  • Formal
8.9

The failure to obey a rule or law

is the broader failure to keep to laws, customs, rules, or practices
nonconformance
vsnonobservance
  • Specialized
8.1

Failure to follow accepted rules, standards, or requirements

is the general failure to keep to laws, customs, rules, or practices

Antonyms

11 4.7

Following a law or custom

How Compliant

obedience
91 2.6
compliance
171 5.0
nonobservance
8.5
to breach
  • Formal
46 4.5
violation
418 4.1

Surface Forms

nonobservance singular

Morphology

nonobservance = observance (transparent) = non + observe + ance

The word is formed by adding the negating prefix 'non-' to 'observance' (compliance), so the meaning 'failure to comply' is a direct negative of the base.

Etymology

The word nonobservance comes from the prefix non- meaning 'not' and observance, from observe meaning 'to watch' or 'to follow', as in 'to observe a rule'. So, nonobservance means not following or keeping a law, custom, or rule.