12 April 2009

nonplussed

And should I not celebrate this little resurgence of the Dictionary with this gem, a lovely inverted action, unadded adjective to indicate an addled state, to describe ones feeling upon seeing the unseeable, hearing the unhearable, experiencing the impossible. Stopped by embarrassment, a lovely thing in itself.
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Nonplussed
Nonplus Non"plus`, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nonplusedor
Nonplussed; p. pr. & vb. n. Nonplusing or Nonplussing.]
To puzzle; to confound; to perplex; to cause to stop by
embarrassment.
[1913 Webster]

He has been nonplused by Mr. Dry's desiring him to tell
what it was that he endeavored to prove. --Spectator.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

nonplus
v : be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I
don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This
question really stuck me" [syn: perplex, vex, stick,
get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose, bewilder,
flummox, stupefy, gravel, amaze, dumbfound]
[also: nonplussing, nonplusses, nonplussed]

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

nonplussed
adj : filled with bewilderment; "at a loss to understand those
remarks"; "puzzled that she left without saying
goodbye" [syn: at a loss(p), puzzled]

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

nonplussed
See nonplus

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

26 Moby Thesaurus words for "nonplussed":
addled, at a loss, at a nonplus, at a stand, at a standstill,
at an impasse, baffled, bamboozled, beat, bewildered, buffaloed,
confounded, dazed, floored, fuddled, in a dilemma, in suspense,
licked, muddled, mystified, on tenterhooks, perplexed, puzzled,
stuck, stumped, thrown



-- From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

1 comment:

  1. So this is what you've been up to in your spare time?

    Well, don't make the mistake of scrimming us pinions again, you heartless termagant. We all have very healthy albedos. Don't make us enchase you right back to your trapezium where people with your kind of Mizpah belong.

    ReplyDelete