different drummer

English

Noun

different drummer (usually uncountable, plural different drummers)

  1. (idiomatic, uncommon) Someone or something that implies individuality, originality, or nonconformity.
    • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Or, Life in the Woods, page 342:
      If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
    • 1988, William Henry Smith Memorial Library (contributor), Black History News & Notes‎[1], numbers 31-58, page 11:
      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.
    • 2002, Glen Browder, The Future of American Democracy, A Former Congressman's Unconventional Analysis, page 124:
      refer to themselves and their associates as an army of different drummers who subscribe to a belief in the philosophical values and practical benefits of electronic self-governance.

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