nameless

[ neym-lis ]

adjective

1. having no name.
2. left unnamed:

   a certain person who shall be nameless.

3. anonymous:

   a nameless source of information.

4. incapable of being specified or described:

   a nameless charm.

5. too shocking or vile to be specified:

   a nameless crime.

6. having no legitimate paternal name, as a child born out of wedlock.
7. unknown to fame; obscure:

   a nameless poet; nameless defenders of the country.

nameless

/ ˈneɪmlɪs /

adjective

1. without a name; anonymous
2. incapable of being named; indescribable

   a nameless horror seized him

3. too unpleasant or disturbing to be mentioned

   nameless atrocities

4. having no legal name; illegitimate

   a nameless child

Derived Forms

• ˈnamelessness, noun
• ˈnamelessly, adverb

Other Words From

• nameless·ly adverb
• nameless·ness noun
• quasi-nameless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nameless¹

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; name, -less

Example Sentences

“Too often the injustices neglect nameless faces and stories,” Dandolo writes in an email.

From The Daily Beast

We laughed hard, harder even than those nameless, faceless laughers in whatever mysterious locale Bill Cosby was performing.

From The Daily Beast

A nameless, faceless entity known to his followers as Spot News, the handle of his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

From The Daily Beast

Brat is going to make Brown look like a nameless session guitar player.

From The Daily Beast

Though Rodin may well have known his models, they remain nameless representations of “a” body.

From The Daily Beast

Her eyes, for a moment, fixed themselves with a horrid conviction of a wide and nameless treachery.

From Project Gutenberg

If he has higher views for his son than a marriage with a nameless girl like me, his son should be the last to find fault.

From Project Gutenberg

A moment later there was Something nearly at his left elbow, and he smelt again the nameless, fœtid reek.

From Project Gutenberg

The loping pursuit of that nameless, shapeless Something sounded like an echo in his head.

From Project Gutenberg

An M.P., who shall be nameless, supplies me with an apt illustration of East Anglian dialect.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• unheard-of
• unnamed