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Nonplussed means “so confused that you are completely paralyzed”. Think deer stopped in headlights. Rough synonyms: confounded, flummoxed, bewildered, perplexe
by jacobolus 6y ago
Nonplussed means “so confused that you are completely paralyzed”. Think deer stopped in headlights.
Rough synonyms: confounded, flummoxed, bewildered, perplexed, stunned, shocked, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, thunderstruck.
Using nonplussed to mean “unimpressed” or “apathetic” will leave listeners both unimpressed and confused.
- raverbashing 6y ago> NOTE: The use of nonplussed to mean "unimpressed" is an Americanism that has become increasingly common in recent decades and now appears frequently in published writing. It apparently arose from confusion over the meaning of nonplussed in ambiguous contexts, and it continues to be widely regarded as an error. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplussed https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplussed My observation: "continues to be regarded as an error" is a bit of a "that's not how linguistics work" thing