Answer: What is the definition and usage of "nonplussed"?
Anonymous asked: What is the correct definition and usage of "nonplussed"?
With examples from Stargate SG-1.
Confession: for the longest time I thought "nonplussed" meant "unfazed" or "unimpressed," because that was the context in which I had always read the word. It wasn't until I read something a couple years ago in which it was used to mean "taken aback" that I realized something was up. I thought the writer had used the word wrong. I got into an argument with my own father over it. Dictionaries were brought out, and to my surprise, I was the one who was wrong.
Me and lots of other people, it seems.
So let's bring the dictionaries out and see what they have to say:
Dictionary.com says nonplussed as a verb means "to render utterly perplexed; puzzle completely," and as a noun means "a state of utter perplexity."
Merriam-Webster Online categorizes nonplussed as a transitive verb and says it means "to cause to be at a loss of what to say, think, or do."
Wiktionary calls it an adjective that means "bewildered, unsure how to respond."
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as "surprised and confused."
So "nonplussed" does mean something similar to "taken aback," and if you want to use it and be correct in your writing, that's the way it should be used.
Example: Daniel blinked, nonplussed at the news that Sam and Teal'c had eloped together.
But of course it's not that simple. There's a lot of confusion about nonplussed, as indicated by my own misunderstanding of the word based on other writers' usage. Two of the four dictionaries consulted above also include a a usage note about the word's informal but increasingly used definition, one where it is taken to mean the exact opposite of what it really does.
Why is this? The word actually originates from the Latin phrase "non plus," which simply means "no more" and which came to mean in English being left literally speechless from some shocking or confusing revelation or event. So how did people come to think of it as the opposite? One explanation is that people are thrown by the negator at the beginning of the word. Words like "perplexed," "confused," "puzzled" or "bewildered" do not have similar negators, while many of their opposites do: consider "unimpressed," "unfazed," or "nonchalant." "Nonplussed" just seems to fit better into the second group of words than the first, and most people aren't going to look up the definitions of words they're not sure about. They're going to try to figure out the meaning from context and what they already know about the English language. There's a tendency for people to unpack "nonplussed" as "not plussed" without considering that "plussed" doesn't actually mean anything in English.
This increasingly widespread informal usage means that a writer should be very careful when using "nonplussed" in their writing. It's easy to cause confusion and have some of your readers interpret a sentence to mean the exact opposite of what you wanted it to.
Example: O'Neill looked up, nonplussed, as Thor suddenly beamed into the room.
Is O'Neill taken aback by Thor's appearance? Or has it happened enough that he's completely unfazed? You might mean it one way but your readers might take it another, so what's going on needs to be very clear from the context. My advice is to used "nonplussed" sparingly, and to be careful that it doesn't make the meaning of the sentence too ambiguous. One way to reduce ambiguity is to make it clear from context what O'Neill's really feeling: maybe establish earlier that Thor's sudden appearances freak O'Neill out, or have O'Neill make some sarcastic comment about Thor trying to scare everyone. Alternatively, you could just use another word:
Example: O'Neill looked up, startled, as Thor suddenly beamed into the room.
Whatever feels right to you and makes your story clear to the reader is always a good approach when making writing choices.
With examples from Stargate SG-1.
Confession: for the longest time I thought "nonplussed" meant "unfazed" or "unimpressed," because that was the context in which I had always read the word. It wasn't until I read something a couple years ago in which it was used to mean "taken aback" that I realized something was up. I thought the writer had used the word wrong. I got into an argument with my own father over it. Dictionaries were brought out, and to my surprise, I was the one who was wrong.
Me and lots of other people, it seems.
So let's bring the dictionaries out and see what they have to say:
Dictionary.com says nonplussed as a verb means "to render utterly perplexed; puzzle completely," and as a noun means "a state of utter perplexity."
Merriam-Webster Online categorizes nonplussed as a transitive verb and says it means "to cause to be at a loss of what to say, think, or do."
Wiktionary calls it an adjective that means "bewildered, unsure how to respond."
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as "surprised and confused."
So "nonplussed" does mean something similar to "taken aback," and if you want to use it and be correct in your writing, that's the way it should be used.
Example: Daniel blinked, nonplussed at the news that Sam and Teal'c had eloped together.
But of course it's not that simple. There's a lot of confusion about nonplussed, as indicated by my own misunderstanding of the word based on other writers' usage. Two of the four dictionaries consulted above also include a a usage note about the word's informal but increasingly used definition, one where it is taken to mean the exact opposite of what it really does.
Why is this? The word actually originates from the Latin phrase "non plus," which simply means "no more" and which came to mean in English being left literally speechless from some shocking or confusing revelation or event. So how did people come to think of it as the opposite? One explanation is that people are thrown by the negator at the beginning of the word. Words like "perplexed," "confused," "puzzled" or "bewildered" do not have similar negators, while many of their opposites do: consider "unimpressed," "unfazed," or "nonchalant." "Nonplussed" just seems to fit better into the second group of words than the first, and most people aren't going to look up the definitions of words they're not sure about. They're going to try to figure out the meaning from context and what they already know about the English language. There's a tendency for people to unpack "nonplussed" as "not plussed" without considering that "plussed" doesn't actually mean anything in English.
This increasingly widespread informal usage means that a writer should be very careful when using "nonplussed" in their writing. It's easy to cause confusion and have some of your readers interpret a sentence to mean the exact opposite of what you wanted it to.
Example: O'Neill looked up, nonplussed, as Thor suddenly beamed into the room.
Is O'Neill taken aback by Thor's appearance? Or has it happened enough that he's completely unfazed? You might mean it one way but your readers might take it another, so what's going on needs to be very clear from the context. My advice is to used "nonplussed" sparingly, and to be careful that it doesn't make the meaning of the sentence too ambiguous. One way to reduce ambiguity is to make it clear from context what O'Neill's really feeling: maybe establish earlier that Thor's sudden appearances freak O'Neill out, or have O'Neill make some sarcastic comment about Thor trying to scare everyone. Alternatively, you could just use another word:
Example: O'Neill looked up, startled, as Thor suddenly beamed into the room.
Whatever feels right to you and makes your story clear to the reader is always a good approach when making writing choices.