Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Lacking distinctive qualities; having no individual character or form.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not hitherto described or classed.
- Not easily described; abnormal or amorphous: of no particular kind; odd; unclassifiable; indescribable.
- noun Anything that has not been described.
- noun A person or thing not easily described or classed: usually applied disparagingly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not hitherto described
- adjective Dull or uninteresting; undistinguished.
- noun A thing not yet described; that of which no account or explanation has been given; something abnormal, or hardly classifiable.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology Not
described (in the academic literature);undescribed ,unidentified . - adjective Without
distinguishing qualities orcharacteristics ;unexceptional . - noun An undistinguished, unexceptional person or thing.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking distinct or individual characteristics; dull and uninteresting
- noun a person is not easily classified and not very interesting
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“I…” Sabrina edged a sideways glance at Dylan, who was scrutinizing her closely, his expression nondescript.
Scent of Danger Andrea Kane 2003
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The other man, in nondescript garments that were both of the sea and shore, and that must have been uncomfortably hot, slouched and shambled like an overgrown ape.
Chapter 14 2010
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Most targets were small groups of people in nondescript civilian vehicles that blend in with traffic, or inside unremarkable buildings.
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Most targets were small groups of people in nondescript civilian vehicles that blend in with traffic, or inside unremarkable buildings.
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Cold and nondescript from the street, it sits about 2 miles from campus, adjacent to a Bed Bath & Beyond and engulfed on three sides by the tall, barbed-wire fence of a local auto body shop.
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Rolling into the grey streets of the small lowland towns, past open fronted stores set in nondescript concrete slab buildings, the bus was transformed into a mobile drive-in restaurant.
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Rolling into the grey streets of the small lowland towns, past open fronted stores set in nondescript concrete slab buildings, the bus was transformed into a mobile drive-in restaurant.
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The other man, in nondescript garments that were both of the sea and shore, and that must have been uncomfortably hot, slouched and shambled like an overgrown ape.
The Martha 1911
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Confederate cavalry — fine, rough-looking fellows, dressed in nondescript uniforms, red shirts, grey tunics; some with boots and some without; armed with sabres and revolvers.
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"Well," replied the other, coolly, "he is what I call a nondescript; like an attorney, or a surgeon, or a civil engineer, or a banker, or a stock-broker, and all that sort of people.
Love Me Little, Love Me Long Charles Reade 1849
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