nonchalance

[ non-shuh-lahns, non-shuh-lahns, -luhns ]

noun

1. the state or quality of being nonchalant; cool indifference or lack of concern; casualness.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nonchalance¹

From French, dating back to 1670–80; nonchalant, -ance

Example Sentences

The people forgot about flood with the same nonchalance that they forgot about drought.

From MIT Technology Review

“I was running on fumes at the end,” Carlsen said at the postgame press conference, chalking the game up as win like any other, with familiar nonchalance.

From FiveThirtyEight

Then again, such keep-calm-and-carry-on nonchalance is vintage Bloomberg.

From The Daily Beast

I thought his nonchalance suggested that he failed to grasp the gravity of his situation.

From The Daily Beast

Her eighth-grade nonchalance was the sort of reaction the novelist William Gaddis might have admired.

From The Daily Beast

This is not a time to manipulate or skulk into situations sideways, attempting to give a false impression of nonchalance.

From The Daily Beast

The girls teetered in their too-high heels and tittered with excitement, while the boys feigned a cool nonchalance.

From The Daily Beast

He was obviously beginning to be afraid; so Eric assumed an air of nonchalance, and played the part of protector.

From Project Gutenberg

It was amusing to see with what good humor and nonchalance the colored people and the soldiers regarded the conflagration.

From Project Gutenberg

Stella's nonchalance alarmed him more and more deeply as he began to look back at his own life and to survey his wasted years.

From Project Gutenberg

In professional nonchalance, no man exceeded our vice-admiral.

From Project Gutenberg

I popped away with great nonchalance, but husbanding my ammunition and popping only a single cracker at a time.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• casualness
• indifference
• insouciance