Word.ws English Dictionary

for the nonce

UK/nɒn(t)s//nɑn(t)s/

for the nonce prepositional phrase: for the time being, for now, with the expectation that the situation may change.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) For the time being, for now, with the expectation that the situation may change.
    • That will do for the nonce, but we'll need a better answer for the long term.
    • 'Idiot!' exclaimed the doctor, who for the nonce was not capable of more than such spasmodic attempts at utterance.1857, Anthony Trollope, chapter 6, in Barchester Towers

for the nonce meaning in Bengali and Malayalam

for the nonce in Bengali

আপাতত, এখনকার জন্য

for the nonce in Malayalam

pro tem, for the time being, temporarily
തൽ സമയത്തേക്ക്, ഒരവസരത്തിലേക്ക്, പ്രത്യേക കാര്യത്തിനുവേണ്ടി, തൽക്കാലത്തേക്ക്, ഒരു തവണത്തേക്ക്, താൽക്കാലികമായി

Origin of for the nonce

From Middle English for þe nones, for þe nanes, a rebracketing of earlier for þen ānes (literally “for the once”).

Questions about for the nonce

What does for the nonce mean?
For the nonce means for the time being, for now, with the expectation that the situation may change.
What is for the nonce in Bengali?
For the nonce in Bengali is আপাতত, এখনকার জন্য. See For the nonce meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is for the nonce?
For the nonce is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce for the nonce?
For the nonce is pronounced /nɒn(t)s/ (UK).

Words near for the nonce in the dictionary

  1. for the main
  2. for the mean time
  3. for the meantime
  4. for the moment
  5. for the most part
  6. for the nonce
  7. for the plot
  8. for the present
  9. for the record
  10. for the rest
  11. for the sake of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: for the nonce (page history and authors); for the nonce (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); for the nonce (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-for the nonce.wav.

Cite this entry: “for the nonce.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/for_the_nonce. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.