nonce
Americannoun
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the present, or immediate, occasion or purpose (usually used in the phrasefor the nonce ).
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Computers. a randomly or automatically generated and often timestamped number intended for a single use in a communication: used especially in authentication and security protocols.
adjective
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of nonce
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English nones, in the phrase for the nones, by faulty division of for then ones “for the once” ( Middle English then, dative singular of the 1 ; ones once )
Vocabulary lists containing nonce
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.
When a mining node wants to create a block, it would take all the data in the block, plus a special number called a nonce, and run it through the hashing algorithm.
From The Verge ● Sep. 9, 2021
If the hash doesn’t start out as “aaaaa,” it would increase the nonce by one, and start again.
From The Verge ● Sep. 9, 2021
A lapse into depression, for the nonce, was averted.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2010
Frozen, for the nonce, was the record $25 million the show had banked in advance ticket sales.
From Time Magazine Archive
“I still shall hear of this battle,” said he, pointing a finger at me, “but for the nonce, tune yourself.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
