# nonce

Pronunciation: US say "NAHNS" /nɑns/; say "NONS" UK /nɒns/, AUS /nɔns/

## Noun

1. In cryptography, a number or value used only once in a communication, for example so that an old message cannot be replayed or so that each encryption is unique.
   - Simple: In computer security, a number used only one time, for example so that old messages cannot be copied and sent again.
   - _The server rejects any request whose nonce it has already seen, blocking replay attacks._
   - _Reusing a nonce with the same key can expose the contents of encrypted messages._
2. The one particular occasion, or the present purpose, now heard only in the phrase for the nonce. *(literary)*
   - Simple: The one occasion or present purpose, now only used in the phrase for the nonce.
   - _The committee agreed to keep the current rules for the nonce and revisit them in the spring._
   - _For the nonce, he was content to let his rival take the credit._
3. In lexicography, a nonce word: a word coined for a single occasion or use.
   - Simple: A word someone makes up for one particular time or use.
5. A derogatory term for a sex offender, especially one who has committed sexual offenses against children. *(British, Ireland)*
   - Simple: An insulting word for a person who has committed sex crimes, especially against children.
6. A person regarded as stupid or worthless. *(slang, British, Ireland)*
   - Simple: A person thought of as stupid or good for nothing.
   - _Don't be such a nonce, the train leaves from the other platform._
   - _Some nonce left the gate open and the dog got out._

## Adjective

4. Made or used for a single occasion or purpose, or happening only once.
   - Simple: Made or used for just one time or one special purpose.
   - _The interviews contained many nonce borrowings, each occurring only once._
   - _The poet's nonce coinages rarely outlive the poem they were written for._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Someone who informs to the police and so betrays a criminal enterprise.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4** — Middle English had the phrases to þen anes and for þen anes ("to/for the once", meaning the one occasion or instance), where þen is the dative singular neuter of þe. Splitting these words in a new place produced nonse or nones, which passed down into modern English. People often say the cryptography sense is short for number used once, but that is probably wrong.
**Meanings 5–6** — This is British criminal slang recorded by 1970, and its origin is unknown. One possible source is dialect nonce or nonse, meaning a stupid or worthless person, though that use cannot be shown to be earlier. Another possibility is nance, meaning an effeminate or homosexual man, from nancy or nancyboy. People have also pointed out that it rhymes with ponce. The prison explanation "Not On Normal Communal Exercise" was probably invented later to fit the existing word.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/nonce (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).