Word.ws English Dictionary

nonlethal

nonlethal is the alternative form of non-lethal.

Meaning of non-lethal

Adjective

non-lethal (not comparable)

  1. Not capable of causing death.
    • a non-lethal dose
  2. Designed to cause incapacitation without causing death.
    • Government officials think a universal malodor, or offensive odor, might prove effective as a non-lethal weapon.
    Synonyms:
    less-lethal

See all 3 meanings of non-lethal

Forms of nonlethal

pluralnonlethals

Origin of nonlethal

From non- + lethal.

Questions about nonlethal

What is nonlethal the alternative form of?
Nonlethal is the alternative form of non-lethal.

Words near nonlethal in the dictionary

  1. nonlesbian
  2. nonlesbians
  3. nonlesion
  4. nonlesional
  5. nonlesioned
  6. nonlethal
  7. nonlethality
  8. nonlethally
  9. nonlethals
  10. nonletter
  11. nonletterpress

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nonlethal (page history and authors); non-lethal (page history and authors). 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:

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