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

The small boy hesitated, plainly at a nonplus.

From The Dop Doctor by Richard Dehan

Utterly at a nonplus, she at length returned to the donkey—that is, to the spot, so far as she could judge, where she had left it.

From Verner's Pride by Mrs. Henry Wood

My uncle turned from one to the other, completely at a nonplus, Rosalie in the meantime clinging to his breast and imploring him passionately to save her!

From Kate Coventry An Autobiography by G. J. Whyte-Melville

“By Jingo, that’s a bad job,” cried the skipper, but he was not long at a nonplus.

From The Ghost Ship A Mystery of the Sea by Henry Austin

When was the last time you looked at the exquisite list of synonyms for the word “baffled”? They may be among the best in the English language: puzzled, nonplused, discombobulated, flummoxed, stumped, fogged, wildered, buffaloed.

From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024

Rupert watches Nate’s mixed feelings, and is clearly nonplused at the chinks in the armor he has been trying to build around Nate.

From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

The columnist Herb Caen, nonplused, invented the term “Beatnik” in 1958, which made the Beats sound like something you’d want to flick off, like fleas.

From New York Times ● Mar. 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

For now, investors appear nonplussed about potential disruptions to regional supply flows.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

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

I was nonplussed at a 1992 symposium in Vienna when a hall filled with international art world denizens went absolutely wild, cheering and stomping when Kelley was introduced on a panel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 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

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

Our higher officials are fond as a rule of nonplussing their subordinates; the methods to which they have recourse to attain that end are rather various.

From Fathers and Children by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

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

Dismissing this nonplussing phase, I turned to the subject of the gem once more.

From The Paternoster Ruby by Charles Edmonds Walk