Meanings
nounnonanswer (plural nonanswers)
plural nonanswers · alternative non-answer
- The lack of an answer.
- An answer that is so vague or noncommittal as to be worthless.
He was completely disciplined, sticking to his nonanswers. He'd been "around", doing "nothing much", for "a while."
2026, Gordon Korman, Hypergifted, page 951 more example
“Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?” Vance continued. Walz called the response “a damning nonanswer.”
2024 October 2, Tara Suter, “Nate Silver suggests Walz was ‘sanewashing’ Vance”, in The Hill, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2025
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Germanic*ne
- Proto-Indo-European*ís?
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
- Proto-Germanic*ainaz
- Proto-Germanic*nainaz
- Proto-West Germanic*nain
- Old Englishnān
- Middle Englishnon
- Old Englishnān
- Old Englishnān-
- Middle Englishnon-
- Englishnon-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts
- Proto-Germanic*anda-
- Proto-Indo-European*swer-
- Proto-Germanic*swarō
- Proto-Germanic*andaswarō
- Proto-West Germanic*andaswaru
- Old Englishandswaru
- Middle Englishanswere
- Englishanswer
- Englishnonanswer
Translations
Spanish non respuesta
- non respuestaTranslations
Cite this entry
APA
nonanswer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonanswer
MLA
“nonanswer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonanswer. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonanswer,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonanswer.
Source: nonanswer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.