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# Word of The Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/word-of-the-day-187/
- Published: 2024-07-19T18:15:05.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-19T18:15:06.000Z
- Author: The Editor
- Tags: General

**Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 19, 2024 is:**

**nonplus** • \\nahn-PLUS\\ • *verb*  

To nonplus someone is to perplex them, or in other words, to cause them to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do.

// The stranger's odd question about the town where my grandfather was born *nonplussed* me.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplus?ref=goodoil.news)

**Examples:**  

"*Motherhood* is only somewhat less likely to *nonplus* the reader than *How Should a Person Be*? On one level, it's a feminist disputation over art versus maternity—whether a female writer must be a mother or whether she can get away with being just (just!) a writer. But this is also a book about life with a capital L." — Judith Shulevitz, *The Atlantic*, 10 Feb. 2022

**Did you know?**  

Does *nonplus* perplex you? You aren't alone. Some people believe the *non* in *nonplus* means "not," and assume that to be nonplussed is to be calm and poised, but in fact the opposite is true. If you are among the baffled, the word's history may clarify things. In Latin, *non plus* means "no more." When [*nonplus*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplus?ref=goodoil.news) debuted in English in the 16th century, it was used as a noun synonymous with [*quandary*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quandary?ref=goodoil.news). Someone brought to a nonplus had reached an impasse in an argument and could say no more. In short time, people began applying *nonplus* as a verb, and today it is often used in [participial](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/participial?ref=goodoil.news) form with the meaning "perplexed" (as in "Joellen's strange remark left us utterly nonplussed").