Meanings
nounnonius (plural noniuses)
plural noniuses
- navigationastronomyA device for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments, later superseded by the vernier.
Well, of course, one must manipulate the various Screw-Settings precisely, read the Nonius, and an hundred other details besides I’d but bore you with,—
1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 332
Origin
- LatinNonius
- Englishnonius
Borrowed from Latin Nonius, the Latinised form of the name of its inventor, Pedro Nunes (1502-78), a Portuguese mathematician and geographer.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian нониус
- нониус (nonius)device for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
Catalan nònius
- nòniusdevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
Finnish noonio
- nooniodevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
German Nonius
- Noniusdevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
Italian nonio
- noniodevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
Portuguese nônio, nónio
- nôniodevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
- nóniodevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
Spanish nonius, nonio
- noniusdevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
- noniodevice for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with nonius
harmoniousparsimoniousfeloniousacrimonioussanctimoniousPoloniusPetroniusceremoniouseuphoniousunceremoniousinharmoniousagoniouscommoniousdisharmoniousmelonious
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
nonius. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonius
MLA
“nonius.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonius. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonius,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonius.
Source: nonius on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.