nonstop
Americanadjective
adverb
-
without a single stop en route.
-
Informal. without a pause or interruption or without respite; continually.
My back ached nonstop for three days.
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of nonstop
Explanation
Things that are nonstop keep going all the time without pausing. A week of nonstop rain can cause flooding, and be pretty gloomy too. You can use the word nonstop as an adjective or adverb, and while it can literally mean "without stopping," it's also frequently used in an exaggerated way, to mean "a lot of the time." Your friend's description of a nonstop dance party or a nervous substitute teacher who giggles nonstop are examples of this. A nonstop plane flight, on the other hand, literally flies from one city to another without landing at another airport on the way.
Vocabulary lists containing nonstop
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: non-
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Continuous
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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.
I thank everyone working practically nonstop to restore power.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
“They make Aspen very likely to get nonstop flights into new markets such as New York, Boston, Miami, which would increase traffic,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Because airfare is highly sensitive to demand, the busiest travel days generally coincide with the highest prices, while less-crowded days can mean savings — or even a more appealing nonstop flight.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
“I’d been going nonstop since I was 8 years old,” he told People in 2013.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Some years, the monsoon was terrible, and it poured nonstop.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
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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.