What Is a Nonce Word? Definition and Examples of Nonce Words

The definition of nonce word (also referred to as an occasionalism), is when a person invents a new word to describe a particular occasion or situation for which a word doesn’t already exist. “Nonce” first appeared as the noun “nanes” in Middle English, which was a derivative of “then anes,” meaning “the one purpose.”

A nonce word isn’t part of the formal English lexicon, but it has a specific meaning within its given context. Once a nonce word enters into common use or the English dictionary, it is no longer considered a nonce word. A nonce word can become an informal neologism if it is used often enough to be considered an official word.

In writing, nonce words can fit in where other words wouldn’t. If the thing you’re trying to describe doesn’t have a word that comes to mind or the existing words simply aren’t the right ones, nonce words can come in handy. Nonce words can slip in to help form the right image for the visual you’re trying to convey. They are also useful for creating particular sounds, putting more focus on the way the text sounds rather than what it means.

Many famous authors have used nonce words in the context of their writing to create a unique, thrilling, or interesting literary experience. The children’s author Dr. Seuss often used nonce words for comedic and rhyming purposes in his poetry, coming up with words like “ga-fluppeted” and “obsk.”

Nonce words come in many forms. They are often portmanteau words (which are two different terms spliced together for a hybrid word formation) but they can also be purely made up. Some examples of nonce words include the following.

1. 1. “Jabberwocky:" “Jabberwocky” (a nonce word itself) is a famous Lewis Carroll nonsense poem that appears in his novel, Through the Looking Glass (1871). The poem contains plenty of nonce words, such as “brillig,” which in the poem means “four in the afternoon,” but does not have an official meaning anywhere else. He also uses “outgrabe” to refer to the action of sneezing between a bellow and a whistle, and “mimsy” as a word meaning both flimsy and miserable. However, some of his other nonce words such as “chortle” (a portmanteau of “snort” and “chuckle”) as well as “galumph” (meaning “to move clumsily”) have since become an official part of English grammar, and are no longer nonce words.
2. 2. “Ringroundabout:” “Ringroundabout,” meaning to completely surround something, is a word that writer James Joyce coined in his novel Ulysses. In the same novel, he also uses the word “mrkgnao” as a way to express a cat’s meow, and “smilesmirk” to define a facial expression that was somewhere between a smile and a smirk.
3. 3. "Grok:" “Grok” is a former nonsense word-turned-neologism coined by Robert Heinlein in his 1961 sci-fi novel, Stranger in a Strange Land. It is defined as a way to intuitively understand something via empathy.

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