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''nonplus'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250714000223-00-⌔

nonplus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

nonplus (plural nonpluses or nonplusses)

  • (obsolete) A state of bewilderment or perplexity.
    • ✤ [A]ltering Vaudemont, to Vallemontanus, and metamorphoſing them, by ſuting them to the Græcian or Latin tongue, we know not what to make of them, and are often at a non-plus.1
    • ✤ Being now made much abler to make their queries, of the ſecrets of that myſtery, by how much their often failings, had put them to often ſtops and nonpluſſes in the work.2
    • ✤ *And if both of them are at a perfect Non-plus, and Baffle to all Humane Underſtanding; is it poſſible for Natural Reaſon to comprehend *what the Heart of Man cannot conceive?**3
    • ✤ I believe they’d ſoon be put to a non-plus —You’d be quite too much for them, I’m ſure.4

Verb

nonplus (third-person singular simple presentnonplusses or nonpluses, present participlenonplussing or nonplusing, simple past and past participlenonplussed or nonplused)

  • (transitive) To bewilder or perplex (someone); to confound, to flummox.
    • ✤ 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.5

Etymology

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The 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”)).6

The verb is derived from the noun.7

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /nɒnˈplʌs/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /ˌnɑnˈplʌs/
  • Rhymes: -ʌs
  • Hyphenation: non‧plus

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Names”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, pages 149–150: ↩

  2. 1657, Richard Ligon, A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados. […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […], page 85: ↩

  3. 1715, Robert South, “A Discourse Concerning the General Resurrection. On Acts xxiv. 15. […]”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, page 269: ↩

  4. 1792, Charlotte Smith, “Letter VI. To Mr. Bethel.”, in Desmond. […], volume I, London: […] G[eorge,] G [eorge,] J[ohn] and J[ames] Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 89: ↩

  5. 1934 October 5, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter II, in Right Ho, Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins […], →OCLC, page 24: ↩

  6. “nonplus, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “nonplus, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. ↩

  7. “nonplus, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2022; “nonplus, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. ↩

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Secondary

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