nowhere
Americanadverb
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in or at no place; not anywhere.
The missing pen was nowhere to be found.
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to no place.
We went nowhere last weekend.
noun
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the state of nonexistence or seeming nonexistence.
A gang of thieves appeared from nowhere.
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anonymity or obscurity.
She came from nowhere to win the championship.
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an unknown, remote, or nonexistent place or region.
adjective
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being or leading nowhere; pointless; futile.
to be stuck in a nowhere job.
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worthless or useless.
That's a nowhere idea if I ever heard one.
idioms
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miles from nowhere, in a remote, isolated, or inaccessible area.
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nowhere near, not nearly.
There's nowhere near enough food to go around.
adverb
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in, at, or to no place; not anywhere
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informal to fail completely to make any progress
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far from; not nearly
noun
-
a nonexistent or insignificant place
-
a completely isolated, featureless, or insignificant place
Spelling
See anyplace.
Etymology
Origin of nowhere
before 1000; Middle English (adv.); Old English nāhwǣr, nōhwǣr. See no 1, where
Explanation
If you're going nowhere, you have no particular destination — nowhere isn't any place at at all. If you're invited nowhere on New Year's Eve, you'll probably stay home — there's not anywhere to go. And if your dog is nowhere to be seen, he's not in your yard, the neighbor's yard, or anyplace else visible. Sometimes the word is also used to mean "a particularly boring or remote place," like when your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, or your parents warn that if you don't do well in school, you'll go nowhere in life.
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.
"Mojtaba Khamenei appears to maintain broad oversight of decision-making, but nowhere near the same level of day-to-day management as his father, probably due to a combination of security concerns and physical incapacitation," said Sabet.
From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026
But as Spitz notes, the song initially went nowhere in the studio.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026
This season City have had some really strange results from out of nowhere, against teams you would not expect.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
This incident reveals why chatbot callout culture leads nowhere.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026
We jog through the DeFazios’ woods, and it’s nowhere near as hot as it was on our horrible hill day, but my scalp is suffocating.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
