nor

¹ American  

[nawr, ner] / nɔr, nər /

conjunction

1. (used in negative phrases, especially after neither, to introduce the second member in a series, or any subsequent member).

   Neither he nor I will be there. They won't wait for you, nor for me, nor for anybody.

2. (used to continue the force of a negative, as not, no, never, etc., occurring in a preceding clause).

   He left and I never saw him again, nor did I regret it.

3. (used after an affirmative clause, or as a continuative, in the sense ofand not ).

   They are happy, nor need we worry.

4. Older Use. than.

5. Archaic. (used without a preceding neither, the negative force of which is understood).

   He nor I was there.

6. Archaic. (used instead of neither as correlative to a followingnor ).

   Nor he nor I was there.

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NOR ² American  

[nawr] / nɔr /

noun

1. a Boolean operator that returns a positive result when both operands are negative.

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nor- ³ American  

1. a combining form used in the names of chemical compounds which are the normal or parent forms of the compound denoted by the base words.

   l-norepinephrine.

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nor. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. north.

2. northern.

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Nor. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Norman.

2. North.

3. Northern.

4. Norway.

5. Norwegian.

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nor ¹ British  

/ nə, nɔː /

conjunction

1. (used to join alternatives) and not

   neither measles nor mumps

2. (and) not … either

   they weren't talented — nor were they particularly funny

3. dialect than

   better nor me

4. poetic neither

   nor wind nor rain

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nor- ² British  

combining form

1. indicating that a chemical compound is derived from a specified compound by removal of a group or groups

   noradrenaline

2. indicating that a chemical compound is a normal isomer of a specified compound

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nor Idioms  

1. see hide nor hair; neither fish nor fowl; neither here nor there; rhyme or reason (neither rhyme nor reason).

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Grammar

See neither.

Etymology

Origin of nor¹

1300–50; Middle English, contraction of nother, Old English nōther, equivalent to ne not + ōther (contraction of ōhwæther ) either; cf. or ¹

Origin of NOR²

1955–60

Origin of nor-³

Short for normal

Example Sentences

But here again, there were no teeth: The law did not require a departing president to give anything to the government, nor to build a library to house his papers.

From Salon • Apr. 17, 2026

About 1 in 7 Americans 18 to 24, according to a recent Rand study, are neither working nor looking for work.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

He’s neither a television celebrity nor a cultural icon.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026

Land, by contrast, is neither mobile nor difficult to identify and tax—and provides a far broader foundation.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

They trudged on, looking neither left nor right, keeping their eyes to the ground, their ears filled with Allun's singing.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda