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nondescript

 - 3 dictionary results

non⋅de⋅script

[non-di-skript]
–adjective
1. of no recognized, definite, or particular type or kind: a nondescript novel; a nondescript color.
2. undistinguished or uninteresting; dull or insipid: The private detective deliberately wore nondescript clothes.
–noun
3. a person or a thing of no particular or notable type or kind.

Origin:
1675–85; non- + L dēscrīptus (ptp. of dēscrībere to describe, define, represent; see describe )


1. undistinctive, usual, ordinary, unexceptional.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To nondescript
non·de·script   (nŏn'dĭ-skrĭpt')   
adj.  Lacking distinctive qualities; having no individual character or form: "This expression gave temporary meaning to a set of features otherwise nondescript" (Katherine Anne Porter).

[non- + Latin dēscrīptus, past participle of dēscrībere, to describe; see describe.]
non'de·script' n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

nondescript 
1683, "not hitherto described," in scientific usage, coined from non- + L. descriptus, pp. of describere (see describe). Sense of "not easily described or classified" is from 1806.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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