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Webster 1913 Edition


Nonpareil

Nonˊpa-reil′

,
Noun.
[See
Nonpareil
,
Adj.
]
1.
Something of unequaled excellence; a peerless thing or person; a nonesuch; – often used as a name.
2.
[F.
nonpareille
.]
(Print.)
A size of type next smaller than minion and next larger than agate (or ruby).
This line is printed in the type called
nonpareil
.

Nonˊpa-reil′

,
Adj.
[F., from
non
not +
pareil
equal, fr. LL.
pariculus
, dim. of L.
par
equal. See
Non
, and
Pair
,
Peer
.]
Having no equal; peerless.

Webster 1828 Edition


Nonpareil

NONPAREIL

,
Noun.
nonparel'.
1.
Excellence unequaled.
2.
A sort of apple.
3.
A sort of printing type very small, and the smallest now used except three.

NONPAREIL

,
Adj.
nonparel'. Having no equal; peerless.

Definition 2024


nonpareil

nonpareil

See also: non-pareil

English

Adjective

nonpareil (comparative more nonpareil, superlative most nonpareil)

  1. Unequalled, unrivalled; unique. [from 15th c.]
    • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Abacus 2013, p. 33:
      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 […].

Noun

nonpareil (countable and uncountable, plural nonpareils)

  1. A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon. [from 16th c.]
  2. A small pellet of colored sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.
  3. A small, flat chocolate drop covered with white pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.
  4. A smaller grade of caper.
  5. (uncountable, dated, printing) The size of type between agate and minion, standardized as 6-point.
    • 1881 May 19, Hermann Cohn, Eyes and School-Books, in Popular Science Monthly,
      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 letters only a millimetre (1/25 inch) high.

Synonyms

Translations


Middle French

Alternative forms

  • nompareil

Adjective

nonpareil m (feminine singular nonpareille, masculine plural nonpareils, feminine plural nonpareilles)

  1. unparallelled; unprecedented