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

A spokesperson for the regulator told BBC News its policy is neither to confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation, nor make public the outcome of any investigation that may have taken place.

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026

This was not in an Olympic city nor an Olympic year, but in Greensboro, N.C., in 2025.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026

Owner James Dolan has no intention of relocating, and there is neither a viable alternative site nearby nor the billions to make it happen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

But he is also a skeptic of preemption when neither Congress nor the Constitution has explicitly stripped away some traditional power from the state.

From Slate • Apr. 22, 2026

They searched high and low, but no one in Sassafras Springs ever saw hide nor hair of Holt again.”

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney