nonzero

N1O1N1Z10E1R1O1

adjective

Of a quantity, not equal to zero.

“a nonzero Hopf number”

OriginEnglish zero ← Middle English non- ← Old English nān- →
Less commonScrabble 16
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adjectivenonzero (not comparable)

alternative non-zero

  1. not comparablemathematicsOf a quantity, not equal to zero.

    a nonzero Hopf number

  2. informalnot comparableOf an unspecified positive quantity.

    a nonzero chance of victory

    1 more example

    Under sharp questioning from Judge Paul S. Diamond, however, they conceded that Trump in fact had “a nonzero number of people in the room,” leaving Diamond audibly exasperated.

    2020 November 11, “Trump lawyers suffer embarrassing rebukes from judges over voter fraud claims”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2020
nounnonzero (plural nonzeroes or nonzeros)

plural nonzeroes · plural nonzeros · alternative non-zero

  1. A quantity which is not zero.

    The function has 1074 nonzeros.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Germanic*ne
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  5. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*nainaz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*nain
  8. Old Englishnān
  9. Middle Englishnon
  10. Old Englishnān
  11. Old Englishnān-
  12. Middle Englishnon-
  13. Englishnon-
  14. Englishzero
  15. Englishnonzero

From non- + zero.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Czech nenulový
  • nenulovýnot equal to zero
French non nul, différent de zéro
  • non nulnot equal to zero
  • différent de zéronot equal to zero
Hindi अशून्य
  • अशून्य (aśūnya)not equal to zero
Hungarian nemnulla, nemzérus
  • nemnullanot equal to zero
  • nemzérusnot equal to zero
Japanese 非零, 非ゼロ
  • 非零 (hirei)not equal to zero
  • 非ゼロ (hizero)not equal to zero
Polish niezerowy
  • niezerowynot equal to zero
Portuguese não nulo
  • não nulonot equal to zero
Romanian nenul
  • nenulnot equal to zero
Russian ненулево́й
  • ненулево́й (nenulevój)not equal to zero
Spanish no nulo, distinto de cero
  • no nulonot equal to zero
  • distinto de ceronot equal to zero
Swedish nollskild
  • nollskildnot equal to zero
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: nonzero on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.