nonentity
See also: non-entity
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
nonentity (countable and uncountable, plural nonentities)
- (countable) An unimportant or insignificant person.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 201–202:
- The Queen Mother detests, but she dreads me—my uncle is indifferent, but finds me of use—our new Queen is already a nonentity—and Louis knows that my house is the most agreeable in Paris.
- 1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise, →ISBN:
- But I am not the penniless nonentity I was when we first met; I can offer an honorable if not a brilliant marriage; and at the very lowest I can provide my wife – my widow, my relict – with a decent competence, an assured future.
- 2000, J.K. Rowling, quoting Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, →ISBN, page 203:
- Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?
- (uncountable) The state of not existing; nonexistence.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 201:
- New objects, new amusements, will occupy her mind; and unhappiness, equally unsuspected and unspoken, will die of its own nonentity.
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:nonentity
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
an unimportant or insignificant person
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nonexistence — see nonexistence