nonchalance
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of nonchalance
From French, dating back to 1670–80; see origin at nonchalant, -ance
Explanation
Nonchalance is a casual lack of concern, a relaxed state without anxiety or enthusiasm. Like how you'd act if the girl you've had a secret crush on since grade school asks you to the prom. (Or maybe not.) It's hard to achieve nonchalance. If you're like most people, there's always going to be something that will rattle you. And you can forget about behaving with chalance, because chalance isn't a word. Sometimes you hear people say that so-and-so acted with "studied nonchalance," which means to sort of fake it. Oddly, the word's origins go back to the Latin calere, which is the same word as the root of calorie. A calorie is a unit of energy, and to act with nonchalance is to refrain from showing too much energy or excitement, so actually, it makes sense.
Vocabulary lists containing nonchalance
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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The Book Thief
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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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.
Mr. Druckenmiller answered media inquiries with an admirable nonchalance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
But there’s another argument to investors nonchalance: It is that while the news is loud, none of it is significant enough to change the math on interest rates.
From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026
“Jurassic World Rebirth” is Bailey’s first leading role in a film of this size, but you wouldn’t know that by the nonchalance he wears it with.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025
On Spotify, the band’s biggest song is the coolly self-assured “Silver Lining,” from its darkly funny final LP, “Under the Blacklight,” and here Lewis delivered it with a swaggy nonchalance.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2025
Rattled, I try to school my face back to dreamy nonchalance, but it isn’t easy.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
