nonpareil

[ non-puh-rel ]

/ ˌnɒn pəˈrɛl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nonpareil ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

having no equal; peerless.

noun

a person or thing having no equal.

a small pellet of colored sugar for decorating candy, cake, and cookies.

a flat, round, bite-sized piece of chocolate covered with this sugar.

painted bunting.

Printing.

a 6-point type.
a slug occupying 6 points of space between lines.

RELATED WORDS

ideal, model

Nearby words

nonorthodox, nonosteogenic fibroma, nonoxynol-9, nonparametric, nonparametric statistics, nonpareil, nonparous, nonparticipant, nonparticipating, nonparticipation, nonpartisan

Origin of nonpareil

1400–50; late Middle English nonparaille < Middle French nonpareil, equivalent to non- non- + pareil equal < Vulgar Latin *pariculum (Latin pari- (stem of pār) equal + -culum -cule¹)

SYNONYMS FOR nonpareil

1 unparalleled.

2 nonesuch.

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ANTONYMS FOR nonpareil

1 ordinary.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for nonpareil

This is a test of whether public television can support a show like this as it does its nonpareil documentary series, Frontline.
The Two Best Newscasts You Aren't Watching|Peter Osnos|March 17, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The other colors, which we may add to the four nonpareil colors, are, different shades of red and yellow.
The Progress of the Marbling Art|Josef Halfer
The next public necessity was a newspaper, which soon came, and the town was given the name of Nonpareil.
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences|Nebraska Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution
It makes a royal octavo volume of one thousand and thirty-six double-column pages, clearly printed in nonpareil type.
Comfort Found in Good Old Books|George Hamlin Fitch

The Nonpareil Parrot is perhaps the most beautiful bird of the parrot tribe in the whole world.
Peter Parley's Tales About America and Australia|Samuel Griswold Goodrich
The old names pica and nonpareil (half pica, or 6-point) still survive as convenient terms to use in naming these sizes.
Typesetting|A. A. Stewart

British Dictionary definitions for nonpareil

nonpareil

/ (ˈnɒnpərəl, ˌnɒnpəˈreɪl) /

noun

a person or thing that is unsurpassed or unmatched; peerless example

(formerly) a size of printers' type equal to 6 point

US a small bead of coloured sugar used to decorate cakes, biscuits, etc

mainly US a flat round piece of chocolate covered with this sugar

adjective

having no match or equal; peerless

Word Origin for nonpareil

C15: from French, from non- + pareil same

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012