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Noncommittal

Definition: Noncommittal

Noncommittal

Adjective

1. Very reluctant to give out information.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "noncommittal" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1856. (references)

 

Synonyms: Noncommittal

Synonyms: guarded (adj), unrevealing (adj). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Noncommittal

English words defined with "noncommittal": hedge, hedgingstraddle. (references)
Specialty definitions using "noncommittal": colombotantalite. (references)

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Usage Frequency: Noncommittal

"Noncommittal" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Noncommittal" is used about 32 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)100%3261,292

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Noncommittal

Language Translations for "noncommittal"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Arabic 

  

‏مراوق, ‏غير ملزم. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

不置可否 (be noncommittal, decline to comment, hedge, not express an opinion). (various references)

   

Czech

  

nic neříkající, neosobní (impersonal), vyhýbavý (elusive, evasive, non committal), opatrnický (cagey, cagy, faint-hearted), bezvýrazný (blank, characterless, dead pan, flabby, glassy, inexpressive, insipid, tame, vapid). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

غیرمشخص (Inconspicuous), غیرصریح (Imprecise, Unintelligible), ردکننده (Spurn). (various references)

   

French

  

réservé, qui n'engage rien, évasif. (various references)

   

Greek 

  

μη αποκαλυπτικόσ, ακαθόριστοσ (amorphous, nondescript, unsettled, vague). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

בלתי מחיב. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

semmitmondó (evasive, frivolous, meaningless, non committal, null, windy), semmire sem kötelező, semleges (impartial, neuter, neutral, non-comittal, unconcerned), diplomatikus (diplomatic, non committal, non-comittal, non-committal, tactful). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

tidak menyatakan pendapat. (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

不即不離 (neutral), 不得要 (ambiguous, vague). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

ふそくふり (close relationship, neutral), ふとくようりょう (ambiguous, vague). (various references)

   

Manx

  

neuchiangltagh (freelance), fastagh (cautious in speech, grave, inarticulate, modest, mum, pensive, quiet, secretive, taciturn, tight-lipped, uncommunicative). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

oncommittalnay

   

Russian 

  

уклончивый (circumlocutional, elusive, evasive, non committal, tortuous). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

evasivo (elusive, evasive, non committal, shuffling). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

oförbindlig. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

tarafsız (candid, clinical, colorless, colourless, crossbench, detached, disinterested, dispassionate, equitable, even handed, fair-minded, free from bias, impartial, judicial, neutral, non committal, non party, nonpartisan, non-partisan, nonparty, unbiased, unbiassed, uncolored, uncoloured, uncommitted, unprejudiced, unwarped), fikrini açıklamayan, çekimser (non committal). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Noncommittal

Derivations

Words beginning with "noncommittal": noncommittally. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Noncommittal" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: noncomittal, noncomittaly, noncommiattal, noncommittial, noncomnittaly. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Noncommittal"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "noncommittal" (pronounced nÄ"nkumi"tul)
7-k u m i" t u lcommittal.
5-m i" t u ltransmittal.
4-i" t u lacquittal, belittle, brittle, Kittel, Kittle, little, skittle, spittle, tittle, vittle, Whittle.
3-t u laccidental, anecdotal, artiodactyl, battle, beetle, betel, bicoastal, bottle, brattle, Bristol, brutal, butyl, Cantle, capital, Capitol, cattle, chattel, chortle, coastal, coincidental, compartmental, congenital, consonantal, continental, crustal, crystal, dental, detrimental, developmental, digital, disgruntle, dismantle, distal, ductile, elemental, embattle, entitle, environmental, experimental, extramarital, fatal, fertile, fetal, fractal, frontal, fundamental, futile, genital, gentle, glottal, governmental, horizontal, hospital, hostel, hostile, hurtle, immortal, immotile, incidental, incremental, infantile, infertile, instrumental, intercontinental, intergovernmental, judgmental, kettle, lentil, lintel, mantel, mantle, marital, mental, metal, mettle, monumental, mortal, motile, Myrtle, Natal, neonatal, nettle, nonfatal, nongovernmental, nonvolatile, occidental, occipital, orbital, oriental, ornamental, parental, parietal, pedestal, periodontal, petal, Pistil, pistol, pivotal, portal, postal, postnatal, Pottle, prattle, prefrontal, premarital, prenatal, projectile, quintal, rattle, rebuttal, recital, rectal, regimental, rental, resettle, scuttle, sentimental, settle, shuttle, skeletal, societal, startle, subtitle, subtle, supplemental, tactile, tattle, temperamental, throttle, title, tootle, total, transcendental, transcontinental, turtle, unsentimental, unsettle, unsubtle, varietal, vegetal, versatile, vestal, vital, volatile, Wintle.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Noncommittal

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-c-i-l-m-m-n-n-o-o-t-t"

-3 letters: committal, monatomic, nonatomic, noncoital.

-4 letters: conation, location, mannitol, monomial, monotint, motional, notation, notional.

-5 letters: actinon, ammonic, amotion, antlion, cannoli, catmint, contain, coolant, limacon, moonlit, nominal, noncola, octanol, ottoman, taction.

 Words containing the letters "a-c-i-l-m-m-n-n-o-o-t-t"
 

+2 letters: noncommittally.

 

+3 letters: complementation.

 

+4 letters: complementations.

 

+5 letters: telecommunication.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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Alternative Orthography: Noncommittal


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4E 6F 6E 63 6F 6D 6D 69 74 74 61 6C

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

-.    ---    -.    -.-.    ---    --    --    ..    -    -    .-    .-..

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001110 01101111 01101110 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01101001 01110100 01110100 01100001 01101100

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#78 &#111 &#110 &#99 &#111 &#109 &#109 &#105 &#116 &#116 &#97 &#108

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

004E 006F 006E 0063 006F 006D 006D 0069 0074 0074 0061 006C

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

488180698179797586866778

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage Frequency
5. Translations: Modern
6. Derivations
7. Rhymes
8. Anagrams
9. Orthography
10. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.