no
adverb
(a negative used to express dissent, denial, or refusal, as in response to a question or request).
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no
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No
NonounLake, a lake in the Sudd region of S central Sudan, formed by the floodwaters of the White Nile. About 40 sq. mi. (100 sq. km).
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Nō
Nōnounclassic drama of Japan, developed chiefly in the 14th century, employing verse, prose, choral song, and dance in highly conventionalized formal and thematic patterns derived from religious sources and folk myths.
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no.
no.abbreviationnorth.
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N/O
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No.
No.abbreviationnorth(ern)
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n.o.
n.o.abbreviationnot out
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no'
no'adverbnot
no
1 American
[noh]
/ noʊ /
adverb
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(a negative used to express dissent, denial, or refusal, as in response to a question or request).
“Have you done the dishes yet?” “No, not yet.”
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(used to emphasize or introduce a negative statement).
Not a single person came to the party, no, not a one.
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not in any degree or manner; not at all (used with a comparative).
He is no better.
interjection
adjective
noun
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noes,
plural
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nos
plural
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an utterance of the word “no.”
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a denial or refusal.
He responded with a definite no.
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a negative vote or voter.
The noes have it.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
idioms
no
2
American
[noh]
/ noʊ /
adjective
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not any.
no money.
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not at all; far from being.
He is no genius.
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very little; negligible.
We got her to the hospital in no time.
No
3
American
[noh]
/ noʊ /
noun
No
4
American
Symbol, Chemistry.
Nō
5
American
[noh]
/ noʊ /
Or
No,
noun
no.
6
American
Or
No.
abbreviation
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north.
-
northern.
-
number.
N/O
7
American
abbreviation
Banking.
no
1
British
/ nəʊ /
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used to express denial, disagreement, refusal, disapproval, disbelief, or acknowledgment of negative statements
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used with question intonation to query a previous negative statement, as in disbelief
Alfred isn't dead yet. No?
noun
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an answer or vote of no
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(often plural) a person who votes in the negative
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there is a majority of votes in the negative
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to continue in a course of action despite refusals
no
2
British
/ nəʊ /
determiner
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not any, not a, or not one
there's no money left
no card in the file
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not by a long way; not at all
she's no youngster
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(followed by comparative adjectives and adverbs) not
no fewer than forty men
no more quickly than before
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See go 1
No.
3
British
abbreviation
-
north(ern)
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Also: no. number
No
4
British
/ nəʊ /
noun
No
5
British
/ nəʊ /
noun
No
6
British
symbol
no
7
British
abbreviation
n.o.
8
British
abbreviation
no'
9
British
/ no, nəʊ /
adverb
no
More Idioms
Usage
Plural word for no The plural form of no can be either nos or noes. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -o are also formed this way, as in mango/mangos/mangoes and mosquito/mosquitos/mosquitoes. In some instances, particularly in advertising and other public communications, the plural form of no is written with an apostrophe, as in no's. This is not considered standard, but it may be easier to understand in some contexts, because nos. (with a period at the end) is also used as an abbreviation for numbers and because many people are unfamiliar with the plural form of no. The word no is only pluralized when it is used as a noun rather than in its more common use as an adverb. The word no as a noun means "an answer or vote of no" or "a person who votes in the negative," as in The noes outnumbered the yeses.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of no1
First recorded before 900; Middle English no, na, Old English nā, from n(e) “not” + ā ay 1
Origin of no2
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English; variant of none 1
Origin of Nō5
1870–75; < Japanese, earlier noũ < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese néng ability
Explanation
No is the ultimate negative: it means "not any," or "not at all," and it's also used to express a generally negative response. If there's no milk for your cereal in the morning, there's not a drop left. A sign in a school hallway that says "No running" means that it's absolutely not allowed. And, the response, "No, thanks" when you offer your friend half of your liverwurst sandwich means that she is really not interested. You might vote no on a special ballot question about extending school to Saturdays or exclaim, "Oh no!" to express disappointment when your team loses a big game. No comes from the Old English negative, na.
Vocabulary lists containing no
Scrabble: Two-Letter Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I no longer have a right foot or a size 44 shoe.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
China must compete on practically every aspect of aircraft manufacturing, external – by no means just on turbine blades – in order to make serious in-roads.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
If the wind blew from the Ukrainian rear, where there was no fighting, the water was fresh and clean.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
There's no such hoopla around their new album, Carnaval de Luz, which is getting a pretty traditional roll-out for one of the world's biggest rock bands.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
There is no argument about what happens next.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
No, Martinů was much stranger and more original than that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
No other governor ever has come close to sparing that many lives.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2026
No major tech boss had commented on the election as of Thursday except Musk, who joked: "Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now."
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
No one has scored more goals for a national side, and no one has pulled on the Portugal shirt more times.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
No matter what I do, it’s always going to be there.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
I have a rural note of one of my visits to the Nō.
From The Foundations of Japan Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People by J.W. Robertson Scott
Ocon said to Mueller: "No, no. I wanted the soft. Don't do that to me. Come on."
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
“But no. There is something in his denial, in his insistence that it never happened, in his childish fury toward the newspaper that investigated his antisemitic past, that sounds like an admission.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
"People are always trying to buy this place, but no. They'll have to drag me out of here feet-first," she said in her thick Cockney accent.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
"This court must give a clear message to society that when a girl says no, it means no. A no means a no," Livelaw quoted him as saying.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Oh, Celia, no. I don’t want to be a pest. You know he helped me unclog the guest toilet just yesterday,” Lou Ann says.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
“To the Portuguese people, the day has come for me to hand back the No. 7 shirt of our national team,” Ronaldo said, reading from a prepared statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
While Switzerland retained the No. 3 spot, it fell to the seventh place—from fifth last year—in terms of innovation and technology leadership, according to the report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
The 3-5 Cowboys would be at No. 10.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
Boise State was ranked No. 25 and the only Group of Six team included, putting the Broncos on track to succeed Chesney’s former James Madison squad as the small conference representative in the playoff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
No. No, to the world, and no, to humankind.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
That was a “complete lie,” he told the press: “I have been a ‘heck no’ the whole time.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
“This Bea thing with ‘No, no, no, no, no’ at every trustee meeting is nerve-racking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
“I went ‘oh no’ and then I just went into shock, there’s no other way to say it,” she said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
"I said 'no, no' and went into panic mode," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2023
It’s a matter you hae nothing to do with, and I counsel you no’ to make nor meddle in it.”
From Frederica and her Guardians The Perils of Orphanhood by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson
An August referendum on restarting the reactor, held just three months after it closed, failed to attract a quorum, though the yes votes outweighed the noes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
If there are more "yes" votes than "noes", the bill will progress to stage two, where MSPs can propose changes.
From BBC ● May 13, 2025
Kentridge brings it to America thirsting for even less good yeses and noes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2025
She retreated, asking the ayes and noes to stand on separate sides of the room.
From Slate ● May 6, 2024
We rise on our yeses and maybes, Then fall on our noes and our buts.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
As the beats of "nos óra dja txiga" played through the fan zone, supporters chanted along in excitement – some waving the national flag.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
Marks owns stock in RyCarma Therapeutics Inc., which is developing compounds that target the ryanodine receptor, and is a coinventor on U.S. patent nos.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 14, 2026
Similarly on “Somos,” she sings “No hay frontera que nos quedan grandes,” asserting that everyone belongs to Mother Earth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
In an official roll call vote, Emmer received what Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman described as "a gigantic pool of nos."
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2023
Hesitations're yeses or nos if the questioner already knows the answer.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
