nowhere

[ noh-hwair, -wair ]

adverb

1. in or at no place; not anywhere:

   The missing pen was nowhere to be found.

2. to no place:

   We went nowhere last weekend.

noun

1. the state of nonexistence or seeming nonexistence:

   A gang of thieves appeared from nowhere.

2. anonymity or obscurity:

   She came from nowhere to win the championship.

3. an unknown, remote, or nonexistent place or region.

adjective

, Informal.

1. being or leading nowhere; pointless; futile:

   to be stuck in a nowhere job.

2. worthless or useless:

   That's a nowhere idea if I ever heard one.

nowhere

/ ˈnəʊˌwɛə /

adverb

1. in, at, or to no place; not anywhere
2. get nowhere or get nowhere fast informal.
   to fail completely to make any progress
3. nowhere near
   far from; not nearly

noun

1. a nonexistent or insignificant place
2. middle of nowhere
   a completely isolated, featureless, or insignificant place

Spelling Note

See anyplace.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nowhere¹

before 1000; Middle English (adv.); Old English nāhwǣr, nōhwǣr. See no ¹, where

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. miles from nowhere, in a remote, isolated, or inaccessible area.
2. nowhere near, not nearly:

   There's nowhere near enough food to go around.

More idioms and phrases containing nowhere

In addition to the idiom beginning with nowhere , also see get nowhere ; in the middle (of nowhere) ; out of nowhere .

Example Sentences

We later spoke again, and out of nowhere, he asked me to climb.

From Los Angeles Times

We spent the next hour talking in circles, getting nowhere — all while stuck in gridlock on the 10 Freeway headed west.

From Los Angeles Times

Agnes Sibal, a spokesperson for LA Animal Services, the city department that runs the shelters, pointed to an “overcrowding crisis” with “nowhere to house incoming dogs.”

From Los Angeles Times

Everything, in case you have not been following Gigi's story, involved scoring a global hit single out of nowhere.

From BBC

“I would be in a good mood, fine and happy, and they would hit me out of nowhere. I’ve always had anxiety, but it had never been physical before. There were a couple of months straight where I felt so upside down.”

From Salon

Related Words

• darkness
• extinction
• limbo