Non-alignment is the policy, or the official line, of not tying your country to one of the world’s powerful sides. It is the noun that sits next to non-aligned. In history class it almost always points to the Non-Aligned Movement in the Cold War — countries that would not join the US camp or the Soviet camp. Though actually, it names a government choice more than a feeling: a country can say it follows non-alignment and still trade, talk, or take money from big powers. It is a formal political word. You meet it in news, textbooks, and speeches, not at the dinner table.