Meanings
nounnonuse (countable and uncountable, plural nonuses)
plural nonuses · alternative non-use
- countableuncountableThe failure to make use of something.First known use 16th c.
Sacred values, and the taboos that protect them, can be attached to resources that we decide are genuinely precious, such as identifiable lives, national borders, and the nonuse of chemical and nuclear weapons.
2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 771
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*h₃eyt-der.?
- Proto-Italic*oitōr
- Latinūtor
- Latinūsus
- Old Frenchus
- Middle Englishuse
- Englishuse
- Englishnonuse
Cite this entry
APA
nonuse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonuse
MLA
“nonuse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonuse. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonuse,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonuse.
Source: nonuse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.