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
  • That way, if anything else gets posted, someone can call it out as a non sequitur.
    — Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2020
  • The resultant traces of smoke seem non sequitur as the distillery eschews the use of peat.
    — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 8 Oct. 2021
  • Its foreboding music and non sequitur lyrics were off-putting to critics and fans at first.
    — Neil Shah, WSJ, 26 Sep. 2020
  • Some, like the rapper, passed with flying colors, while others weren't sure what to make of the non sequitur.
    — Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Yet, just as often, these exchanges go off the rails with non sequiturs, silence or, most painfully, faux pas.
    — Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 July 2024
  • On the matter of closed or refused accounts, criticism of banks is a non sequitur.
    — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025
  • His Platonic ideal of love, in any case, contains a large non sequitur.
    — Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2023
  • My one non sequitur of the day has to do with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Mar. 2025
  • Coleman told the gathering a personal story that at first seemed like a non sequitur.
    — Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2018
  • Coleman told the gathering a personal story that at first seemed like a non sequitur.
    — Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2018
  • Her response was a bit of a non sequitur, as Stelter was asking about news conferences.
    — Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, 24 May 2018
  • And then, in a non sequitur, also called for closing harbors to migrants from African countries too.
    — Annalisa Merelli, Quartz, 24 Feb. 2020
  • Because this performance more easily could prove a non sequitur as revealing in any way.
    — Vahe Gregorian, Kansas City Star, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Economists were trafficking in non sequitur while at the same time glossing over the fact that work divided looms largest on prices.
    — John Tamny, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024
  • Cleverbot veers from sounding like a winsome waif to coming across as a drunk, smart-alecky fifteen-year-old who talks in non sequiturs.
    — Patricia Marx, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
  • 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
  • Brown kept getting sidetracked with tangents and non sequiturs, on topics both momentous and random.
    — Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2026
  • The album also exults in musical zingers, non sequiturs and startling off-grid eruptions.
    — Jon Pareles, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024
  • To pretend that the Fed somehow escapes this absolute is not only false, but also a non sequitur.
    — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 31 May 2026
  • Aspects of that plan take on the air of mantras or non sequiturs, lines that G and B are rehearsing in order to convince others.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 12 Apr. 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
  • 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
  • Jokes abound in Gail Daughtry, some short bursts of profanity and non sequitur, others more cerebral and longform.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • 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
  • His late-night posts on X, mass emails to federal employees, and non sequiturs uttered on television have prompted even more questions about his drug use.
    — Shayla Love, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2025
  • The ornery character actor Richard Kind is his announcer, barking non sequiturs from behind a podium.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Apr. 2025
  • 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

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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