NONPLUSSED

NONPLUS

perplex, vex, stick, get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose, bewilder, flummox, stupefy, nonplus, gravel, amaze, dumbfound

(verb) be a mystery or bewildering to; “This beats me!”; “Got me--I don’t know the answer!”; “a vexing problem”; “This question really stuck me”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

nonplussed (comparative more nonplussed, superlative most nonplussed)

Bewildered; unsure how to respond or act. [from 17th c.]

(proscribed, US, informal) Unfazed, unaffected, or unimpressed. [from 20th c.]

Usage notes

In recent North American English nonplussed has acquired the alternative meaning of "unimpressed". In 1999, this was considered a neologism, ostensibly from "not plussed", although "plussed" is itself a nonstandard word, seemingly a back-formation from nonplussed. The "unimpressed" meaning is proscribed as nonstandard by Ask Oxford.

Synonyms

• (bewildered): perplexed, vexed, thwarted, frustrated, foiled, confounded

Verb

nonplussed

simple past tense and past participle of nonplus

Source: Wiktionary

NONPLUS

Non"plus, n. Etym: [L. non not + plus more, further. See Plural.]

Definition: A state or condition which daffles reason or confounds judgment; insuperable difficalty; inability to proceed or decide; puzzle; quandary. Both of them are a perfect nonplus and baffle to all human understanding. South.

Non"plus`, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nonplused or Nonplussed; p. pr. & vb. n. Nonplusing or Nonplussing.]

Definition: To puzzle; to confound; to perplex; to cause to stop by embarrassment. He has been nonplused by Mr. Dry's desiring him to tell what it was that he endeavored to prove. Spectator.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition