Meanings
- alternativeuncommonuncountableAlternative spelling of nonplusationFirst known use 19th c.
[…] arrives at the height of "nonplussation" when his father meets him and his fashionable affianced, and says, "my son, vot young gal is that?"
1851 August 12, “The Fast Young Man”, in Classical Union, volume 1, number 1, page 3593 more examples
And now a spectacle presented itself which set the old professor’s wits altogether abroad, […] gazing blankly at the strangers, with features expressive of amazement, strong curiosity, and complete “nonplussation”[…]
1848, Robert Douglas, Adventures of a Medical Student, volume II, Henry Colburn, page 161They stared after it with a gape of utter nonplussation “ And my internal spirit cut a caper,” as the poet sublimely says, for I could not have slept at night if those crows had enjoyed their disreputable meal.
1881, “The Crows” (chapter VI), in The Tribes on My Frontier, The Times of India, page 51If she decided to have the baby, could she pass it off as his? He was presumably familiar with the standard human gestation period. “I'm pregnant,” she said. A period of nonplussation “I only took the test last night. I haven't seen a doctor. But I'm late and it was positive. Faintly positive, but ...” “Huh.”
2016, Dylan Hicks, Amateurs, Coffee House Press, page 240
Origin
Cite this entry
nonplussation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonplussation
“nonplussation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonplussation. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonplussation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonplussation.
Source: nonplussation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.