nugacity

A nugacity is something trivial or unimportant. Nugacity can also mean the quality of being trivial or unimportant.

Nugacity is obscure and rarely used. It is related to the adjectives nugacious and nugatory, both of which mean “trivial” or “unimportant.”

Example: Many biology majors feel like the one required art class is a nugacity that doesn’t add to their education.

The first record of nugacity in the English language comes from the mid-1500s. Its first known use is from the poem “The Fall and Evil Success of Rebellion” by English poet Wilfred Holme. Nugacity comes from the Latin word nūgācitās, meaning “worthlessness” or “frivolity.”

Nugacity was most used between the 1600s and 1800s to describe unimportant texts, political policies, or parts of everyday life. Notable uses include those by English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (in his literary criticism) and English philosopher Henry More.

Today, it is quite obscure but is still occasionally used in both of its senses.

What are some synonyms for nugacity?

• trifle
• frivolity
• triviality
• worthlessness
• unimportance

What are some words that share a root or word element with nugacity?

• nugatory
• nugae
• nugacious

Ironically, most people learn the word nugacity as a bit of trivia.

Today's word in my book of words of the days is NUGACITY, which means pointlessness. As Larkin wrote to Amis: "I'm sorry this letter is so dull, but I do just bugger all and tend to stagnate. One gets obsessed with nugacity (you are bound to know what that means, you sod)."

— Steven Poole (@stevenpoole) December 2, 2019

NUGACITY

(N. Rare.)

"Triviality / a trivial thing."#NationalTriviaDay pic.twitter.com/q7KIPsbNxe

— National Library of Scotland (@natlibscot) January 4, 2018

I think I need more nugacity in my life! #freewordoftheday @FreeWordCentre pic.twitter.com/TyIIY1kq61

— Sally Oliphant (@Sally_PR) August 18, 2015

Is nugacity used correctly in the following sentence?

The nugacity of these meetings is obvious—we’ve already covered everything in an email.