Nonsporting

Non-sporting is an adjective describing something that is not related to sport or athletics. In general English usage, it contrasts with things categorized as sporting. The standard form is non-sporting; the closed form nonsporting appears in titles, brand names, or informal text but is less common in prose.

In dog breed classification, the term is used in the Non-Sporting Group, a category used by major kennel clubs such as the American Kennel Club (AKC) to group breeds that do not fit into Sporting, Working, Herding, Toy, Terrier, or Hound groups. The group is diverse in size and temperament, and its membership varies across organizations and countries. The term is descriptive rather than functional: it signals a miscellaneous assembly rather than a shared purpose.

Outside kennel contexts, non-sporting usage occurs occasionally to describe activities, attire, or organizations that are not sports-related. However, in formal writing, hyphenated non-sporting is generally preferred to avoid ambiguity.