not forming a syllable or the nucleus of a syllable; consisting of a consonant sound accompanied in the same syllable by a vowel sound or consisting of a vowel sound dominated by other vowel sounds in a syllable (as the second vowel in a falling diphthong); the nonsyllabic `n in `botany when it is pronounced `botny; the nonsyllabic `i in `oi

[ Syn: nonsyllabic ]