nonpareil
Syllables: non·par·eil/nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/US/ˌnɑnpəˈɹɛl/
nonpareil adjective: unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
Adjective
nonpareil (comparative more nonpareil, superlative most nonpareil)
- Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
- He informed the clerk that he would remain three or four days, inquired concerning the sailing of European steamships, and sank into the blissful inanition of the nonpareil hotel with the contented air of a traveller in his favorite inn.1919, O. Henry, “Transients in Arcadia”, in The Voice of the City
- A veritable artist, possessed of a deftness nonpareil with cotton swab and evacuation-hypo, the medical attaché is known among the shrinking upper classes of petro-Arab nations as the DeBakey of maxillofacial yeast […]1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 33
- Synonyms:
- alone, azygous, incomparable, matchless, only, peerless, singular, sui generis, unequaled, unique
- Antonyms:
- average, basic, bog-standard, common, common as bums, common as dirt, common as muck, common as pig tracks, dime a dozen, everyday
Noun
nonpareil (countable and uncountable, plural nonpareils)
- A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
- My lord and master loves you. O, such love / Could be but recompens'd though you were crown'd / The nonpareil of beauty!c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- King John of France, once prisoner in England, came […] to see the Countess of Salisbury, the nonpareil of those times, and his dear mistress.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition III...
- The blue underwing or Clifden nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), a species of moth distributed across the Palearctic; also (obsolete) any of a number of moths of other species.
- In full nonpareil parrot: an eastern rosella, of species Platycercus eximius, a rosella (parrot) native to southeastern Australia.
- A painted bunting (Passerina ciris), a brightly-coloured finch native to North America.
- In full nonpareil apple: an apple tasting both sweet and tart which ripens very late in the season; also, the tree producing this fruit.
- Any of various types of small sweets.
- A small pellet of white or coloured sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.
- Synonyms:
- hundreds and thousands, sprinkles
- A small, flat chocolate drop covered with such pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.
- A caper (“pickled edible flower bud”) of the smallest size.
- A size of type between ruby and emerald (or, in the United States, between agate and minion), standardized as 6-point; (countable) a slug of this size.
- I believe that letters which are less than a millimetre and a half (1/17 inch) high, will finally prove injurious to the eye. How little attention has hitherto been paid to this important subject is exemplified in the fact that even oculistic journals and books frequently contain nonpareil, or...1881 May 19, Hermann Cohn, “Eyes and School-Books”, in Popular Science Monthly
- A Handbook of Astronomy (cover, brown leather, detached, 5 plates, antique letterpress long primer, author’s footnotes nonpareil, marginal clues brevier, captions small pica).1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[17]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- nonpareille
nonpareil meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
nonpareil in Tamil
- ஈடிணையற்ற, ஒப்பற்ற, ஒப்பற்றவர், ஒப்பற்றது, மிட்டாய், சாக்கலேட்டு
nonpareil in Urdu
- بےنظیر
nonpareil in Malayalam
- അതുല്യൻ, അദ്വയൻ, അനുപമൻ, നിരുപമൻ, അതുല്യ, അദ്വയ
nonpareil in Kannada
- ಅನುಪಮ, ಅದ್ವಿತೀಯ, ಎಣೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ
Synonyms of nonpareil
6 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- average
- basic
- bog-standard
- common
- common as bums
- common as dirt
- common as muck
- common as pig tracks
- dime a dozen
- everyday
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of nonpareil
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more nonpareil |
| superlative | most nonpareil |
| alternative form | non-pareil |
| Noun | |
| plural | nonpareils |
| alternative form | nonparella |
| alternative form | nonpareillo |
Origin of nonpareil
From Late Middle English non-parail (“unparalleled, nonpareil”) [and other forms], from Middle French nonpareille, nonpareil (“unparalleled”) (obsolete), from non- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + pareil (“alike, like, same”). Pareil is derived from Old French pareil, from Late Latin pāriculus (“equal; like; of a number: even”), from Latin pār (“equal; like; of a number: even; suitable”) + -culus (a variant of -ulus (suffix forming diminutives)). Noun sense 4 (size of type standardized at 6-point) is usually taken to derive from the attractive type cut by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio De Gregori (fl. 1482–1503 and 1496–1527 respectively) for their 1498 edition of the divine offices in Venice; it was for a long time the smallest-sized type in use.
Words that rhyme with nonpareil
Questions about nonpareil
- What does nonpareil mean?
- Nonpareil means unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
- What is nonpareil in Tamil?
- Nonpareil in Tamil is ஈடிணையற்ற, ஒப்பற்ற, ஒப்பற்றவர். See Nonpareil meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is nonpareil?
- Nonpareil can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce nonpareil?
- Nonpareil is pronounced /nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/ (UK).
Words near nonpareil in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nonpareil (page history and authors); nonpareil (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nonpareil (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nonpareil (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nonpareil (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-nonpareil.wav.
Cite this entry: “nonpareil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nonpareil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.