unorthodox
un-OR-thuh-doksadjMeaning not following the usual ways of doing things
Memory hook UN-ORTHO: NOT the usual straight way. Chef Jamal flips his pancakes with a tennis racket, and every one lands perfectly in the pan. His method is unorthodox.
For years the chef has used an unorthodox method: flipping pancakes with a tennis racket.
In context Her teaching was unorthodox: instead of lectures and worksheets, the class learned fractions by baking bread and history by acting out old trials.
Similar unconventional, nontraditional, unusual, odd
Opposite orthodox, conventional, traditional
From un- (not) + orthodox, from Greek orthodoxos, “having the right opinion”: orthos (straight, correct) + doxa (opinion).