different drummer
different drummer noun: someone or something that implies individuality, originality, or nonconformity.
Noun
different drummer (usually uncountable, plural different drummers)
- Someone or something that implies individuality, originality, or nonconformity.
- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Or, Life in the Woods, page 342
- Lou shows how these "different drummers," to use Benjamin Quarles's apt phrase, acted on the conviction that economic, social, and political equality demanded independent action.1988, William Henry Smith Memorial Library (contributor), Black History News & Notes, numbers 31-58, page 11
Forms of different drummer
| plural | different drummers |
|---|
Words formed from different drummer
Questions about different drummer
- What does different drummer mean?
- Different drummer means someone or something that implies individuality, originality, or nonconformity.
- What part of speech is different drummer?
- Different drummer is a noun.
- What is the plural of different drummer?
- The plural of different drummer is different drummers.
Words near different drummer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: different drummer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “different drummer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/different_drummer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.