nonplus

He found cross-examinations mentally invigorating, soon learned that he could nonplus storming attorneys if he kept smiling no matter how galling their insinuations.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even these hide and seek tactics did not long nonplus the "snipers"; their adaptability was equal to the occasion.

From The Siege of Kimberley by T. Phelan

Each desperate plunge elicited from the sufferers oaths and expressions which only those who have seen sailors completely at a nonplus on shore can conceive.

From Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1 by George Grey

Here was a nonplus, not perhaps without its comical side.

From Chivalry by Elizabeth Shippen Green Elliott

Phonny was put quite to a nonplus by this unexpected answer.

From Mary Erskine by Jacob Abbott

Nicholas Elliott, Philby’s closest friend and a fellow member of the foreign intelligence agency MI6, looks slightly nonplused.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

The shepherds were nonplused by the project but became serious about matters of geography.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2022

“You have crazy people everywhere,” Mr. Rolat said, nonplused.

From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2019

And this, in turn, has left some of his peers nonplused — grumbling at what they see as a flimsy theory or bewildered as to why Harvard’s top astronomer won’t shut up about aliens.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 4, 2019

“I sure could use some lumber for my front porch,” he said, nonplused.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

It featured Evan, Anthony and Zachary performing a rendition of Hilary Duff’s “What Dreams Are Made Of” before a crowd of nonplussed seniors, while Darshan danced along next to them on a laptop screen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

In a brief phone interview, a worker at Unique Bite Eatery in Indio appeared nonplussed and said there was no damage at the restaurant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2026

Durant appeared nonplussed by the spat, while admitting that he had deliberately taken a combative approach into the game.

From Barron's ● Dec. 21, 2025

"This is how I'd do it if I was DJ," he tells a group of nonplussed staff as dance music strains at his laptop speakers.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2025

He bolted out of the restaurant, leaving his nonplussed dinner guests behind, to view the evidence for himself.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Weaver, however, verged on nonplussing co-hosts Brian Williams and Rachel Maddow, as well as reporter Steve Kornacki, MSNBC's millennial version of CNN's king-of-the-"Magic Wall" John King.

From US News ● Apr. 20, 2016

The question was awkward, nonplussing Jerky, and, the second time, calling for explanation from his sister; who, however, promptly vouchsafed it.

From No Quarter! by Mayne Reid

He received visitors with the graciousness of the courteous head of a department, who resigns himself to listen to demands, allowing them to talk as he smiled faintly, and nonplussing them by his calmness.

From Une Vie, a Piece of String and Other Stories by Guy de Maupassant

While his powers of discussion of a subject were great, the power that especially characterized him was that of nonplussing his antagonist with a snub or a sarcasm.

From The Brothers' War by John Calvin Reed

It is closely woven in with that of Poindexter, and presents one feature which may occasion you no surprise, but which, I own, came near nonplussing me.

From The Circular Study by Anna Katharine Green