How to Use non sequitur in a Sentence

non sequitur

noun
  • We were talking about the new restaurant when she threw in some non sequitur about her dog.
  • When the slides on the pitch deck start to go by too fast, ask a non sequitur.
    Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Oct. 2021
  • This was one of the more bizarre non sequiturs in the history of cooking.
    Pete Wells, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2018
  • The resultant traces of smoke seem non sequitur as the distillery eschews the use of peat.
    Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 8 Oct. 2021
  • Rather, Fox News has often used Clinton as a non sequitur.
    Alvin Chang, Vox, 11 July 2018
  • That way, if anything else gets posted, someone can call it out as a non sequitur.
    Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2020
  • Its foreboding music and non sequitur lyrics were off-putting to critics and fans at first.
    Neil Shah, WSJ, 26 Sep. 2020
  • And then, in a non sequitur, also called for closing harbors to migrants from African countries too.
    Annalisa Merelli, Quartz, 24 Feb. 2020
  • His Platonic ideal of love, in any case, contains a large non sequitur.
    Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2023
  • Giuliani did his best to work with Hannity's non sequitur.
    Callum Borchers, Washington Post, 3 May 2018
  • Her response was a bit of a non sequitur, as Stelter was asking about news conferences.
    Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, 24 May 2018
  • The false equivalence of the mistreatment of three nominees by the Democrats to the lack of hearings for Merrick Garland is clever, as all non sequiturs are.
    WSJ, 4 Oct. 2018
  • The directors play the scene as a non sequitur joke, and as a result, the ending comes off as anticlimactic.
    Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader, 6 June 2018
  • Coleman told the gathering a personal story that at first seemed like a non sequitur.
    Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2018
  • During a rally Tuesday in Erie, Pa., in-between comments on his crowd sizes and fracking, Trump sneaked in a non sequitur about the interview.
    Author: Josh Dawsey, Colby Itkowitz, Jeremy Barr, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Oct. 2020
  • And here’s a huge non sequitur: That’s when Minnesota won Big Ten and national championships.
    Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 29 Sep. 2019
  • For years, Russian diplomats were made to confront Washington and defend the country’s meddling abroad with lies and non sequiturs.
    Boris Bondarev, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2022
  • When a friend asked if sweet-potato pies tasted anything like pumpkin, Amiri Baraka responded with a wry non sequitur.
    New York Times, 14 Mar. 2022
  • The album also exults in musical zingers, non sequiturs and startling off-grid eruptions.
    Jon Pareles, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024
  • Because like most iconic film lines — especially of the non sequitur variety — the joy is not so much in rewatching as reciting.
    Jess Bergman, The Cut, 30 Apr. 2018
  • Olivia Colman is known for her hilarious non sequiturs.
    Jane Thier, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2024
  • Heading into the second Democratic debate tonight, many are hoping for more climate talk and fewer non sequiturs.
    Heather Souvaine Horn, The New Republic, 28 June 2019
  • The big kahuna obviously is Walton, a walking, talking eccentric who specializes in throwing out a non sequitur or two during the heat of a game.
    Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 14 Aug. 2019
  • Thompson stars as Maureen, Meyerowitz’s bohemian fourth wife, an expert at delivering a good non sequitur.
    Rebecca Keegan, vanityfair.com, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Steely, terse, nocturnal, halting, nervously coiled, spooky and a continuous stream of non sequiturs.
    Peter Dobrin, Philly.com, 22 Feb. 2018
  • The comment that triggered misconduct proceedings was almost a non sequitur, Mossman said.
    Megan Cassidy, SFChronicle.com, 11 Sep. 2019
  • The mention of people experiencing homelessness might seem like something of a non sequitur, an unusual topic that had found its way into Trump's speech.
    Philip Bump, chicagotribune.com, 18 Sep. 2019
  • Her best lines were odd non sequiturs that revealed disturbing flashes of family history.
    Eren Orbey, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2020
  • Instead, Mulvaney suggested that Trump would accept subsidies in exchange for a full Obamacare repeal (a non sequitur) or for his greatest desire: funding for the border wall.
    Tina Nguyen, vanityfair.com, 17 Oct. 2017
  • What might seem a non sequitur or surreal in Stein is understood as plain speech in Thomson's deceptively straightforward setting.
    Mark Swed, latimes.com, 21 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'non sequitur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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