nonspeak
nonspeak noun: speech that is intended to satisfy a needed response, yet lacking in any real pertinent information; speech about nothing, empty words; useless talk or babble.
Noun
nonspeak (uncountable)
- Speech that is intended to satisfy a needed response, yet lacking in any real pertinent information; speech about nothing, empty words; useless talk or babble.
- Most of the action reports are carefully worded statements by ship's officers who have been trained in the art of nonspeak.2002, Burl Burlingame, Advance Force Pearl Harbor
- The only possible originality advertising could claim is in technique, and even then this is doubtful; certainly never in content, which consists entirely in pseudo-speech, Orwellian non-speak.2005, Armand Mattelart, Advertising International
- An aversion to speaking; speechlessness.
- By nine, Hodson said, boys have learned to be incurious about other people; they aren't inclined to conversation; they aren't interested in discovering more about other people. They have already learned nonspeak and nonlisten.1990, Patricia W. Lunneborg, Women Changing Work, page 190
Forms of nonspeak
| alternative form | non-speak |
|---|---|
| alternative form | non speak |
Origin of nonspeak
From non- + speak.
Questions about nonspeak
- What does nonspeak mean?
- Nonspeak means speech that is intended to satisfy a needed response, yet lacking in any real pertinent information; speech about nothing, empty words; useless talk or babble.
- What part of speech is nonspeak?
- Nonspeak is a noun.
Words near nonspeak in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nonspeak (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: “nonspeak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nonspeak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.