¹maverick

noun mav·er·ick \ˈmav-rik, ˈma-və-\

: a person who refuses to follow the customs or rules of a group

Full Definition of MAVERICK

: an unbranded range animal; especially : a motherless calf

: an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party

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Let him refind his inner rebel, the famous irreverent maverick, let the tiger out of the cage. —Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 28–29 June 2008
In the Senate, however, he had established himself as a bright and prickly maverick, not averse to sharp criticism of his own party, its policies, and its leaders, most especially Bill Clinton. —John Gregory Dunne, New York Review of Books, 13 June 2002
This, of course, is dangerous for the rest of us. With one successfully repatriated daughter, Papi might yank us all out of college and send us back. Not to mention that it's out and out creepy that Fifi, the maverick, is so changed. —Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, 1991
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Samuel A. Maverick †1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves

First Known Use: 1867

Synonyms: bohemian, boho, counterculturist, deviant, enfant terrible, free spirit, heretic, iconoclast, individualist, loner, lone ranger, lone wolf, nonconformist, nonconformer

adjective mav·er·ick \ˈmav-rik, ˈma-və-\

: characteristic of, suggestive of, or inclined to be a maverick (see ¹maverick)

Occasionally nerves and veins take maverick pathways and show up in unexpected places. —Virginia Holman, Double Take,Winter 2002
Later British units, deprived of the opportunity for maverick expression by a revamped chain of UN command with a different political agenda, started spouting the organization's euphemisms that sought to paint every Bosnian side the same shade of guilty grey. —Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, I Miss It So, 1999
He was maverick enough, original-minded enough, however, to realize that he could do better than simply follow Murray's orders to the letter. —Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998
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