nonimportation

noun

non·​im·​por·​ta·​tion ˌnän-ˌim-ˌpȯr-ˈtā-shən 

-pər-

: cessation or prohibition of the import of goods from another country especially as employed against Great Britain by the American colonies in the Revolutionary era in retaliation for the Townshend Acts and by the U.S. in the Napoleonic era as a measure of reprisal for British violations of American neutral rights

… some of the most vocal supporters of nonimportation (including John Hancock) had been violating the agreement.

—Mary Beth Norton et al.

—often used before another noun

a nonimportation policy

Examples of nonimportation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Among the earliest expressions of American national identity was the 1765 nonimportation agreement among Boston merchants in response to British revenue acts, supported by boycotts of British goods by local households. —Marc M. Arkin, WSJ, 21 Sep. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1762, in the meaning defined above