nondescript
adjective
George Bernard Shaw
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How Nondescript Was Formed
It is relatively easy to describe the origins of nondescript (and there's a hint in the first part of this sentence). Nondescript was formed by combining the prefix non- (meaning "not") with descriptus,the past participle of the Latin verb describere, meaning "to describe." It is no surprise, then, that when the word was adopted in the late 17th century by English speakers, it was typically applied to something (such as a genus or species) that had not yet been described. Other descriptive descendants of describere in English include describe, description, and descriptive itself, as well as the rare philosophical term descriptum ("something that is described").
Examples of nondescript in a Sentence
Alaa Elassar, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
Tsypkin’s account of dramatic summer of gambling and deathbed prayers is accompanied by his own melancholic photographs of nondescript walls and windows, taken on a research trip to Leningrad.
—Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025
Hardy’s social media feed is dotted with clips of him riding the trio, usually down a nondescript dirt road somewhere in mid-Missouri.
—David Ubben, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
His more casual look was completed with a pair of tan suede shorts with a pattern of a nondescript image.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nondescript
Cite this Entry
“Nondescript.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nondescript. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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nondescript
adjective
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