To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
1. A judgment against a plaintiff for failure to present enough evidence for a jury to decide in the plaintiff's favor, or for failure to pursue a lawsuit, such as by proceeding to trial.
2. A dismissal of a lawsuit because the plaintiff has failed to pursue it.
tr.v.non·suit·ed, non·suit·ing, non·suits
To render a judgment of nonsuit against (a plaintiff).
[Middle English, failure of a plaintiff to prosecute, fromAnglo-Normannounsuite : noun-, no (fromLatinnōn; see NON-) + suite, suit; see SUIT.]
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.