non-coming

noun

A lack or absence of coming; failure to come

OriginMiddle English non comyng →
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Meanings

nounnon-coming (countable and uncountable, plural non-comings)

plural non-comings · alternative noncoming

  1. countableuncountableA lack or absence of coming; failure to come

    This poem is about non-coming and non-going.

    2013, Thich Nhat Hanh, Call Me by My True Names, page 87
    2 more examples

    […] and inasmuch as the husband does not now come, which non-coming shall be adjudged a default, we pray that they be distrained to attorn.

    1889, Alfred John Horwood, Luke Owen Pike, Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the Third - Issue 5, page 28

    Beginning at the end, ending at the beginning, the comings and goings—the non-comings, the non-goings— of Estragon and Vladimir settling onto boots, and swollen feet; a very precise picture of pain.

    2014, Clark Lunberry, Sites of Performance, page 4

Origin

  1. Middle Englishnon comyng
  2. Englishnon-coming

From Middle English non comyng, noun comyng, equivalent to non (“no”, adjective) + coming.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

non-coming. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-coming

MLA

“non-coming.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-coming. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “non-coming,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-coming.

Source: non-coming on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.