What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
Confusion over the word “nonplussed” — traditionally meaning perplexed, but increasingly used to mean unfazed or unimpressed, especially in American English — prompts a broader look at how word meanings drift over time. Commenters debate whether such shifts enrich or damage the language, touching on related “skunked” or self-contradictory terms like “literally,” “bemused,” and “moot,” and on the tension between prescriptive and descriptive approaches to dictionaries. Many conclude that “nonplussed” has become so ambiguous that careful writers may be better off avoiding it in favor of clearer synonyms.
Competing meanings of “nonplussed”
- Two main senses discussed:
- Older / traditional: “perplexed,” “at a loss what to say or do.”
- Newer / emerging: “unruffled,” “unbothered,” “unimpressed.”
- Many note that in typical sentences either reading can fit, which fuels mislearning.
- Several commenters say they only ever knew the “unbothered” sense; others only ever knew “perplexed.”
Regional and usage splits
- Multiple British and Irish speakers report only seeing “perplexed.”
- Several Americans say they mainly encounter “unimpressed/unbothered.”
- Some point to documentation that the newer sense is primarily US-based.
- Non‑native speakers often had never seen the word or assumed an Orwellian/newspeak origin, or a French one (“moi non plus”).
Ambiguity and “skunked” status
- Many argue the word is now “skunked”: any use forces readers to stop and disambiguate, often unsuccessfully.
- Several say they avoid it entirely and advise others to use clear synonyms (“perplexed,” “unfazed,” “unimpressed”).
Language change vs. “errors”
- One camp views the new sense as a straightforward mistake that undermines precision, alongside shifts in “literally,” “begs the question,” “factoid,” etc.
- Another camp accepts or even enjoys such shifts as normal language evolution, noting that many “misuses” are now standard.
- There’s debate whether changes mostly arise from:
- Misinterpretation from context and morphology (treating non- as a simple prefix; analogy to “not fussed”).
- Genuine expressive need for finer shades (“dismissive lack of concern” vs. “calm” vs. “confused”).
Broader lexicon and contronyms
- Thread branches into other ambiguous or self-opposite words: “inflammable/flammable,” “cleave,” “sanction,” “moot,” “literally,” “bemused,” “ambivalent,” “peruse,” “travesty,” “upshot.”
- Concept of “lost positives” and unpaired words (e.g., “disgruntled” vs. joking “gruntled,” “nonchalant,” “kempt”) comes up.
Dictionaries and authority
- Dictionaries are criticized and defended:
- Descriptivist stance frustrates those who want clear labels for “incorrect” usage.
- Others argue dictionaries must record actual usage, and prescriptivism belongs in style guides, not core definitions.