Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Casually unconcerned or indifferent. synonym: cool.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Indifferent; unconcerned; careless; cool: as, he replied with a nonchalant air.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Indifferent; careless; cool.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Casually calm and relaxed.
  • adjective Indifferent; unconcerned; behaving as if detached.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by blithe unconcern

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, present participle of nonchaloir, to be unconcerned : non-, non- + chaloir, to cause concern to (from Latin calēre, to be warm, heat up; see kelə- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French nonchalant, from Old French nonchaloir ("to not be concerned"), from non- ("not") + chaloir ("to have concern for"), from Latin non 'not' + calere 'to be warm'

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Examples

  • At that moment, she gave a new meaning to the word nonchalant when she casually adjusted her right foot to let her arm rest on her knee and placed the other foot on the floor.

    The Brotherhood of Man Kimani Kinyua 2006

  • That's what I call a nonchalant dismissive attitude that we can all aspire to.

    BSNYC Product Review: Look 566 Road Bicycle BikeSnobNYC 2009

  • “Yes,” I said, trying to keep my expression nonchalant, “but at least you’ll have a reputation.”

    The Little Lady Agency and the Prince Hester Browne 2008

  • “Yes,” I said, trying to keep my expression nonchalant, “but at least you’ll have a reputation.”

    The Little Lady Agency and the Prince Hester Browne 2008

  • “Yes,” I said, trying to keep my expression nonchalant, “but at least you’ll have a reputation.”

    The Little Lady Agency and the Prince Hester Browne 2008

  • His expression was nonchalant as he made a dismissive gesture.

    Thieves Like Us Starr Ambrose 2010

  • We cowered in a faint indentation in the wall, pressing against the dripping bushes, and I heard the vehicle scrape a quantity of paint from its opposite side before it was past, the driver calling a nonchalant thanks.

    The Moor King, Laurie R. 1998

  • The result is that the game's violence, relegated to the distance, feels nonchalant, which is a damn shame considering Argonauts 'use of the Unreal engine makes for some pretty tasty gibs.

    Daily Vanguard RSS 2009

  • To keep the acronym in tact, perhaps our journalist is "nonchalant", or seeming to be coolly unconcerned or indifferent?

    BSNYC Friday Fun Quiz! BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • Other people I talked to have just been kind of nonchalant about it, as it were.

    CNN Transcript Jul 23, 2008 2008

Comments

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  • Tolle Wörter sind hier zu finden. Stosse immer wieder auf deine Liste, wenn ich bei mir (http://wordie.org/people/gebsn) neue Wörter eintrage.

    September 8, 2007

  • Can one also be chalant?

    May 25, 2009

  • I try not to. It's too stressful to be marked by concern.

    May 26, 2009

  • Is it blithe? The concern, I mean.

    June 3, 2009

  • I don't rightly know. Can concern be blithe?

    June 3, 2009

  • Only oxymoronically, I suspect.

    June 3, 2009

  • It could depend on your viewpoint. Maybe you enjoy concern. Then it might be blithe.

    *blithely concerned that this conversation is going nowhere*

    June 3, 2009

  • My concern cannot be blithe. Only my unconcern. Otherwise they get in a fistfight, which is something, considering neither of them have anything resembling fists.

    Now, lithe concern, that's another matter.

    June 3, 2009

  • Would you bracket unconcern, please?

    June 3, 2009

  • ... that was an accident. I didn't know I was madeupicalizing anything. Actually I wasn't, because it's in the WeirdNet definition.

    Shoot... *goes back and brackets madeupicalizing, just in case*

    June 3, 2009

  • *follows Pro and Chained with lithe unconcern*

    June 3, 2009

  • My grandmother, a school teacher, told me, when I was a small boy that the definination of nonchalant was a little boy who peed in his pants and didn't care which leg it ran down.

    February 18, 2010