nameless
Americanadjective
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having no name.
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left unnamed.
a certain person who shall be nameless.
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anonymous.
a nameless source of information.
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incapable of being specified or described.
a nameless charm.
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too shocking or vile to be specified.
a nameless crime.
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having no legitimate paternal name, as a child born out of wedlock.
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unknown to fame; obscure.
a nameless poet; nameless defenders of the country.
adjective
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without a name; anonymous
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incapable of being named; indescribable
a nameless horror seized him
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too unpleasant or disturbing to be mentioned
nameless atrocities
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having no legal name; illegitimate
a nameless child
Usage
What does nameless mean? Nameless means having no name, as in Emily Dickensen’s poems are all nameless, so we refer to them by their first lines instead.Nameless also means anonymous, as in Journalists sometimes use nameless sources of information in order to get the details they need for their stories.You might use nameless to describe something incapable of being described, such as a nameless charm.Example: A nameless writer created one of the world’s most well-known proverbs.
Other Word Forms
- namelessly adverb
- namelessness noun
- quasi-nameless adjective
Etymology
Origin of nameless
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When a nameless secretary drops a sheaf of papers, Kornev’s response to help is instinctive, yet we cringe at the careless faux pas he commits in this unfeeling society.
From Los Angeles Times
We sat on the piano bench together week after week, not as friends exactly, but with enough familiarity for me to feel as if I was more than a nameless her.
From Literature
The city began life as a nameless Celtic settlement, but Prague’s history starts in earnest in the Middle Ages, when it flourished as the capital of the Slavic duchy-turned-kingdom of Bohemia.
An editor who shall remain nameless told me today that no one seemed to care about the latest consumer price index print—that it was stale data in the wake of rising oil prices.
From Barron's
It isn’t hidden in an alley or obscured via a nameless door.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
