chalance

English

Etymology

Back-formation from nonchalance

Noun

chalance (uncountable)

1. An attitude of seriousness and earnestness.
   • 1961, Time - Volume 77, Part 2, page 44:

     But their nonchalance is too earnest: the effect is chalance.

   • 2004, Robert C. Solomon, Thinking about Feeling: Contemporary Philosophers on Emotions:

     The example I began with involved important news, and so some sense of shock, but chalance is more usually felt at unchanging matters of importance to us, not reserved for changes in the landscape of the important.

   • 2017, Michael Darling, Got Hope:

     I still felt cranked up, but Nat's chalance had been surgically removed years ago and he was perfectly at ease.

Anagrams

• Lachance