Word of the Day

: February 16, 2025

non sequitur

noun NAHN-SEK-wuh-ter

What It Means

A non sequitur is a statement that either does not logically follow from, or is not clearly related to, what was previously said.

// We were talking about the new restaurant when she threw in some non sequitur about her dog.

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non sequitur in Context

“Late on Saturday, as members of Congress scrambled to strike a deal for legislation that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling, they agreed to a total non sequitur in the text they would release the next day. After a series of late-in-the-game interventions by lobbyists and energy executives, the draft bill declared the construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline to be ‘required in the national interest.’ It wasn’t really germane to the debt ceiling, at least not in the literal sense.” — Jonathan Mingle, The New York Times, 1 June 2023

Did You Know?

Non sequitur comes directly from Latin, in which language it means “it does not follow.” Although the Latin non sequitur can constitute a phrase or even a complete sentence, in English non sequitur is a noun, and thus it follows that the plural of non sequitur is non sequiturs. Borrowed into English in the 16th century by logicians, non sequitur initially referred to a conclusion that did not follow the statements preceding it. The meaning has now broadened to include statements that are seemingly unrelated to the topic at hand, or that seem to come out of the blue. So if you ever forget the definition of non sequitur, just remember: a penny saved is a penny earned.