Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person regarded as being of no importance or significance.
  • noun Nonexistence.
  • noun Something that does not exist or that exists only in the imagination.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Non-existence; the negation of being.
  • A thing between being and nothing; a negation, relation, or ens rationis.
  • A figment; a nothing.
  • Nothingness; insignificance; futility.
  • A person or thing of no consequence or importance: as, he is a mere nonentity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Nonexistence; the negation of being.
  • noun A thing not existing.
  • noun colloq. A person or thing of little or no account; an unimportant person; -- usually used as a disparaging term.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun an unimportant or insignificant person

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person of no influence
  • noun the state of not existing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

non- +‎ entity

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Examples

  • Joe McElderry – Shuddering nonentity from the north-east.

    X Factor Final Betting Odds – Journey South Odds 2009

  • “Without the cathedral, Kingsbridge would be nothing, the priory would sink back into obscurity, and Philip would once again be a nonentity, which is what he deserves.”

    The Pillars of the Earth FOLLETT, Ken 1989

  • His nonentity was a source of regret to us: we lamented to see a tall handsome youth, destined to rule over his fellow-men, trembling at the eight of a horse, and wasting his time in the game of hide-and-seek, or at leap-frog and whose whole information consisted in knowing his prayers, and in saying grace before and after meals.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon Various

  • What the rationalist calls nonentity is the substrate and locus of all ideas, having the obstinate reality of matter, the crushing irrationality of existence itself; and one who attempts to override it becomes to that extent an irrelevant rhapsodist, dealing with thin after-images of being.

    The Life of Reason George Santayana 1907

  • He has been brought up to understand that to be a Duke is not to be a titled nonentity or a pampered _roué_, but to be one whom Providence has blessed with an opportunity of benefiting and watching over the welfare of those less fortunate than himself in the world's good gifts.

    A Bid for Fortune or Dr. Nikola's Vendetta Guy Boothby 1886

  • His nonentity was a source of regret to us: we lamented to see s tall handsome youth, destined to rule over his fellow-men, trembling at the eight of a horse, and wasting his time in the game of hide-and - seek, or at leap-frog and whose whole information consisted in knowing his prayers, and in saying grace before and after meals.

    The Memoirs of Napoleon Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de 1836

  • His nonentity was a source of regret to us: we lamented to see a tall handsome youth, destined to rule over his fellow-men, trembling at the eight of a horse, and wasting his time in the game of hide-and-seek, or at leap-frog and whose whole information consisted in knowing his prayers, and in saying grace before and after meals.

    Memoirs of Napoleon — Complete Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne 1801

  • His nonentity was a source of regret to us: we lamented to see s tall handsome youth, destined to rule over his fellow-men, trembling at the eight of a horse, and wasting his time in the game of hide-and - seek, or at leap-frog and whose whole information consisted in knowing his prayers, and in saying grace before and after meals.

    Memoirs of Napoleon — Volume 05 Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne 1801

  • Oh, and I'm such a "nonentity" that this thread is STILL going on, I see.

    David Lindsay: New Labour Are Cleaned Up Trots 2008

  • At strategy sessions of the Bush-Cheney campaign he was a "nonentity," recalled one Bush adviser.

    INNER CIRCLE 2007

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