Meaning & use
nonentity
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Meanings
nouncountabledisapproving
A person who is not important and has little influence.
Grammar: Countable: a nonentity, several nonentities.
Patterns
- a political nonentity
- treat someone as a nonentity
Before the election, he was a political nonentity with no name recognition.
She was tired of being treated as a nonentity by her colleagues.
The manager turned out to be a nonentity who made no real decisions.
nouncountabledisapproving
Something that has no real importance or effect.
Grammar: Countable; used for things or ideas, not just people.
Patterns
- a nonentity in something
- dismiss something as a nonentity
The report was a nonentity that changed nothing in the company.
Critics called the new law a nonentity with no clear purpose.
In the history of the sport, that match is a nonentity.
Word forms
| plural | nonentities |
|---|
Common combinations
- a political nonentity
- The candidate was a political nonentity before the debate.
- treat someone as a nonentity
- The staff felt the new boss treated them as nonentities.
- a complete nonentity
- To the art world, he was a complete nonentity until his first show.
- a nonentity in the field
- For years she was a nonentity in the field of physics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nobody
- Nobody is more informal and usually means a person of no fame; nonentity is more formal and stresses lack of importance or influence.
- insignificant person
- This phrase is neutral and descriptive, while nonentity is dismissive and slightly harsh.
Opposites
Word family
- entity noun
- Something that exists as a separate and real thing.
Commonly confused: nonentity or non-entity? nonentity or non-identity?
nonentity vs non-entity
The hyphenated spelling is sometimes seen but is less standard; the usual form is one word, 'nonentity'.
nonentity vs non-identity
Non-identity means a lack of identity or sameness, a different idea from being unimportant.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'nonentity' in the most natural way?
Choose one answer.
'Nonentity' means an unimportant person, so 'He was a nonentity... until he won' fits. Option 0 is wrong because a famous person is not a nonentity; option 2 confuses it with 'identity'; option 3 contradicts the meaning because praise would not make someone feel unimportant.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nonentity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.