nonperson
noun
non·per·son
ˌnän-ˈpər-sᵊn 
: a person who is regarded as nonexistent: such as
a
: unperson
b
: one having no social or legal status
Examples of nonperson in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The system was nothing less than an Irish Gulag, its inmates nonpersons, placed beyond the pale of citizenship.
—
Giles Harvey, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
Credit Reynolds for making this thing watchable, but watching a nonperson does get tedious after a couple of hours.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2021
Not only was Paul Robeson — another great athlete of that first wave era — reduced to an Orwellian nonperson for all practical purposes.
—Washington Post, 27 July 2021
Some 20 years before, Korolev had been a different kind of nonperson.
—Andrew Stuttaford, WSJ, 18 Apr. 2021
Mirroring the Scientology custom whereby anyone who bad-mouths the church is ostracized as a nonperson, the practice smacks of a cult.
—Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, 10 Feb. 2019
Mirroring the Scientology custom whereby anyone who badmouths the church is ostracized as a nonperson, the practice smacks of a cult.
—WSJ, 23 Jan. 2019
Trotsky, for example, who had become a nonperson, is vivid in the book.
—Olga Ingurazova, Smithsonian, 29 Sep. 2017
No memoir captures the human damage better than scriptwriter Walter Bernstein’s humane and entertaining account of his 11 years as a nonperson in Hollywood and New York.
—WSJ, 24 Feb. 2017
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Giles Harvey, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
Credit Reynolds for making this thing watchable, but watching a nonperson does get tedious after a couple of hours.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2021
Not only was Paul Robeson — another great athlete of that first wave era — reduced to an Orwellian nonperson for all practical purposes.
—Washington Post, 27 July 2021
Some 20 years before, Korolev had been a different kind of nonperson.
—Andrew Stuttaford, WSJ, 18 Apr. 2021
Mirroring the Scientology custom whereby anyone who bad-mouths the church is ostracized as a nonperson, the practice smacks of a cult.
—Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, 10 Feb. 2019
Mirroring the Scientology custom whereby anyone who badmouths the church is ostracized as a nonperson, the practice smacks of a cult.
—WSJ, 23 Jan. 2019
Trotsky, for example, who had become a nonperson, is vivid in the book.
—Olga Ingurazova, Smithsonian, 29 Sep. 2017
No memoir captures the human damage better than scriptwriter Walter Bernstein’s humane and entertaining account of his 11 years as a nonperson in Hollywood and New York.
—WSJ, 24 Feb. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Nonperson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonperson. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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