nonlocal
|non-lo-cal|
🇺🇸
/nɑnˈloʊkəl/
🇬🇧
/nɒnˈləʊk(ə)l/
not limited to a single place
Etymology
'nonlocal' originates from English, specifically formed from the prefix 'non-' and the adjective 'local', where 'non-' meant 'not' and 'local' derived from Latin 'localis' meaning 'pertaining to a place'.
'local' changed from Latin 'localis' (from 'locus', meaning 'place') through Medieval Latin and Middle English to the modern English 'local', and the productive English prefix 'non-' was attached in modern English to form 'nonlocal'.
Initially it meant simply 'not local' in ordinary English; over time it has acquired specialized technical senses in physics, mathematics, and programming while retaining the general meaning.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not local; not restricted to or characteristic of a particular place or immediate area.
The relief effort required support from nonlocal volunteers as well as the town's residents.
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Adjective 2
in physics and philosophy, describing influences or correlations that occur between distant points and are not mediated solely by nearby interactions (e.g., quantum nonlocality).
Quantum experiments reveal nonlocal correlations between entangled particles.
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Adjective 3
in mathematics and applied analysis, referring to an operator or term that depends on values over an interval or region rather than only at a single point (a nonlocal operator).
The model uses a nonlocal integral operator to account for long-range interactions.
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Adjective 4
in programming (notably Python), referring to the 'nonlocal' keyword which declares that a variable refers to a binding in the nearest enclosing scope (but not the global scope).
Use the nonlocal statement when you need to modify a variable from an enclosing function scope.
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Last updated: 2025/12/31 01:05