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I met following sentence while reading a passage:

avoided some inconformities

However, I found that computer auto-check show a red line under inconformities which means it is wrong. However I check an online dictionary for inconformity. It is not a wrong-spelling word. If the word is spelled correctly, what wrong with this phrase. Why do auto-check system change it to nonconformity

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  • I think it should be hyphenated like in-conformities. However, not all the errors triggered by spell-checkers are really important.
    – Omid
    Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 14:25
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    Because inconformity is a very rare word and probably not in your spell-checker's dictionary. Software grammar- and spelling-checkers cannot be trusted. Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 14:27
  • @StoneyB Thanks, I see. As a English learner, I sometimes rely on spell-checker to check some spell mistake. I know it is not reliable.
    – einverne
    Commented Jan 23, 2014 at 5:32

1 Answer 1

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Merriam Webster, instead of giving a definition of "inconformity", just gives a link to the word "nonconformity". This suggests that "inconformity" exists, but that "nonconformity" is the better choice.

Google Ngrams shows that "nonconformity" is used much oftener than "inconformity".

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