nonplussation

English

Etymology

From nonplus +‎ -ation.

Noun

nonplussation (uncountable)

1. (uncommon) Alternative spelling of nonplusation [from 19th c.]
   • 1848, Robert Douglas, Adventures of a Medical Student, volume II, Henry Colburn, page 161:

     And now a spectacle presented itself which set the old professor’s wits altogether abroad, […] gazing blankly at the strangers, with features expressive of amazement, strong curiosity, and complete “nonplussation” […]

   • 1851 August 12, “The Fast Young Man”, in Classical Union, volume 1, number 1, page 359:

     […] arrives at the height of "nonplussation" when his father meets him and his fashionable affianced, and says, "my son, vot young gal is that?"

   • 1881, “The Crows” (chapter VI), in The Tribes on My Frontier, The Times of India, page 51:

     They stared after it with a gape of utter nonplussation “ And my internal spirit cut a caper,” as the poet sublimely says, for I could not have slept at night if those crows had enjoyed their disreputable meal.

   • 2016, Dylan Hicks, Amateurs, Coffee House Press, page 240:

     If she decided to have the baby, could she pass it off as his? He was presumably familiar with the standard human gestation period.
     “I'm pregnant,” she said.
     A period of nonplussation
     “I only took the test last night. I haven't seen a doctor. But I'm late and it was positive. Faintly positive, but ...”
     “Huh.”