nonplussed
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /nɒnˈplʌst/
ipa: /ˌnɑnˈplʌst/
rhymes: -ʌst
Forms: form: more nonplussed
form: most nonplussed
form: non-plussed
Etymology: From nonplus (“state of bewilderment or perplexity”, noun) or nonplus (“to bewilder or perplex (someone)”, verb) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives, and the past tense and past participle forms of verbs). Nonplus (noun) is derived from Latin nōn plūs (“no further, no more”), from nōn (“not”) + plūs (“additionally, more; further”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)). The etymological sense is similar to being left speechless as a result of confusion: the nonplussed person can say or do “no more”.
Sense 2 (“unaffected”) is probably from a misinterpretation of the first element of the word as the prefix non- meaning “not”.
Senses: examples: text: [N]ote the honeſt Quaker vvas nonpluſſed, and greatly ſurprized at that Queſtion.
ref: 1724, [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunate Mistress; […] [Roxana], London: […] E. Applebee, […], published 1740, →OCLC, page 277:
english: Roxana
translation: Roxana
text: I could not discern what she meant, and I would not ask her: I was nonplussed.
ref: 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “A Burial”, in Villette. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 285:
text: For the nonce he was rather nonplussed but inasmuch as the duty plainly devolved upon him to take some measures on the subject he pondered suitable ways and means during which Stephen repeatedly yawned.
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 569:
text: You couldn’t have told it from my manner, but I was feeling more than a bit nonplussed. The spectacle before me was enough to nonplus anyone.
ref: 1934 October 5, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter II, in Right Ho, Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins […], →OCLC, page 24:
text: In the opposite direction the allowance of 103 min. for the 83.8 miles from Waterloo to Salisbury, which has remained untouched since the worst period in the war, when it included a Woking stop that long since has been excised, was another timing that left drivers completely nonplussed at times as to how to fill it out.
ref: 1949 July and August, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 257:
synonyms: word: confounded
word: vexed
word: lost for words
word: addle-pated
word: addled
word: addlepated
word: at a loss
word: at a loss for words
word: at sea
word: at sixes and sevens
word: baffled
word: befuddled
word: bewildered
word: confused
word: confuzzled
word: dazed
word: dazzled
word: discombobulated
word: disconcerted
word: dumbfounded
word: flabagasted
word: flabbergasted
word: flabbergastered
word: flummoxed
word: flustered
word: jumbled
word: lost for words
word: minussed
word: misled
word: mixed up
word: muddled
word: muzzy
word: mystified
word: nonplussed
word: not with it
word: out of it
word: out to lunch
word: perplexed
word: punch-drunk
word: puzzled
word: spaced out
word: speechless
word: stumped
word: stymied
word: thrown
word: up a tree
antonyms: word: plussed
glosses: Unsure how to act or respond; bewildered, perplexed.
examples: text: "I regard Dean [W. P.] Baddeley's gambling activities with embarrassment and dismay," said Anglican dean of Melbourne S. Barton Babbage. […] The Rev. Baddeley remained nonplussed. "I don't intend to make a habit of going to the races but I feel clergymen should mix as our Lord did with all walks of life," Dr. Baddeley said.
ref: 1960 August 2, “Cleric’s error was to win his wagers”, in Oakland Tribune, home edition, volume CLXXIII, number 33, Oakland, Calif.: Oakland Tribune, →ISSN, →OCLC, page E7, column 6:
text: And while many of us might be a little taken aback if Mom showed up at our offices, Secrist is utterly nonplussed, even happy about it.
ref: 2002 April 14, Debra Pickett, “Sunday lunch with”, in Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Public Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 24:
text: One cannot help but wonder how the unnecessary death of 10 men sat on [John Charles] Fremont's conscience. From all appearances, he seemed nonplussed and never was remorseful or contrite.
ref: 2003 September, Gerald F. Kreyche, “John Charles Fremont and the Exploration of the American West”, in USA Today, volume 132, number 2700, New York, N.Y.: Society for the Advancement of Education, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2023, pages 52–57:
text: My screams woke everyone on the boat the first night when a large bat flapped up against the screen door to our small cabin, with its foam double beds. My brother-in-law, Mike, was nonplussed: "Why would you get excited over a little bug like that?"
ref: 2004 June, Shannon Thompson, “Houseboating on California’s Shasta Lake”, in Sunset, volume 212, number 6, Oakland, Calif.: Sunset Publishing, published 2 September 2004 (online), →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2022, page 140:
text: The lions in question were nonplussed. "They just stuck their noses into the wind, looked around and slumped down again into the grass," the now 73-year-old [Jonathan Scott] recalls.
ref: 2022 August 14, Joe Shute, “The rise and fall of the pride that inspired the Lion King”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2022:
synonyms: word: blasé
word: jaded
word: adiaphroistic
word: apathetic
word: apathistical
word: blasé
word: deaf
word: cool
word: shiftless
word: dispassionate
word: dull
word: enervated
word: gallionic
word: halfhearted
word: heartless
word: impassive
word: ineffervescible
word: insouciant
word: indifferent
word: insensible
word: jaded
word: languid
word: languorous
word: Laodicean
word: lethargic
word: listless
word: lackadaisical
word: lotophagous
word: lukewarm
word: mopey
word: nonchalant
word: nonplussed
word: phlegmatic
word: pococurante
word: spiritless
word: supine
word: tepid
word: torpid
word: torpedinous
word: unaroused
word: uncaring
word: unconcerned
word: unenthusiastic
word: unimpressible
word: uninterested
word: unlively
word: unmoved
word: untouched
word: unzealous
word: world-weary
antonyms: word: plussed
glosses: Unaffected, unfazed; unimpressed.
Derived terms: word: nonplussedness