nonce
NounUS[nons]/nɑns/1 syllable
Synonyms:
time being
Open English WordNet
Noun (1)
- the present occasion“for the nonce”Synonyms: time beingType of present, nowadays
Word of the day · Oct 17About this word
ephemeranoun
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Translations
Noun one or single occasion
- French
- pour l'occasion
- Japanese
- 当座 tōza
- Dutch
- gelegenheid
- Polish
- okazjonalizm
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Nonce (nŏns), noun
Origin: For the nonce, OE. for the nones, a corruption of for then ones, where noun in then is a relic of AS. m in ðam, dat. of the article and demonstrative pronoun, E. the. See For, Once, and The.
The one or single occasion; the present call or purpose; — chiefly used in the phrase for the nonce, i. e. for the present time.
The miller was a stout carl for the nones.— Geoffrey Chaucer
And that he calls for drink, I 'll have prepared him A chalice for the nonce.— William Shakespeare
Nonce word, “a word apparently employed only for the nonce”. Murray (New English Dict.).
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54