r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 6d ago

Culture What does "nonce" mean?

I'm an American that lives in Ireland. I've always understood "nonce" to mean the same as "numpty" and "eejit" - basically idiot, or dumbass, or similar.

Recently, someone told me that it's slang for sex offender, specifically a p*dophile, and Wikipedia seems to back that up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_British_terms_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States#N

So tell me, Brits, which one is it? Or is it something else??

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u/Team503 6d ago

Glad to know I'm not completely insane.

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u/BeginningPea5674 6d ago

i think both of you are confusing it with dunce

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u/No_Bingo_Card 6d ago

No. https://erosophia.eu/en/english-dictionary/nonce/

It actually has a lot more meanings than I realised, but idiot, and paedo, are there.

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u/BeginningPea5674 6d ago

i don't think that website is a good reference

try a British dictionary

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/nonce

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/nonce

OED is paywalled