anonymity

American  

[an-uh-nim-i-tee] / ˌæn əˈnɪm ɪ ti /

noun

• anonymities
  plural

1. the state or quality of being anonymous.

2. an anonymous person.

   some fine poetry attributed to anonymities.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonanonymity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• anonymities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of anonymity

First recorded in 1810–20; anonym(ous) + -ity, or from French anonymité

Explanation

If you want a little bit of invisibility, you might seek anonymity, or being anonymous and nameless. He was a very wealthy man, and he gave most of his money away with quiet anonymity, so no one knew who was helping. The noun anonymity comes from a Greek word meaning "without a name." If you have anonymity, you have namelessness, and people will not know who you are. Some words that are the opposite of anonymity are "celebrity" and "fame." Sometimes people request anonymity, as in "he phoned the police to report the break-in across the street but requested anonymity so the burglars wouldn't know who turned them in."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anonymity anonymities

A 55-year-old Ballynahinch woman has pleaded guilty to breaching a lifetime anonymity order by posting information likely to reveal the alleged identity of a victim in the Jeffrey Donaldson sex abuse case.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

"If one case arrives in Kinshasa, it would be a catastrophe. The cases would then take off," said one doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity.

From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026

“Industry just says, ‘Shucks, write us another check,’” said one defense congressional staffer, who requested anonymity to speak about internal defense spending deliberations.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

The woman's identity is protected by an anonymity order.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

After all, she was just another poor black woman struggling in anonymity to raise her children in the slums of Durham.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Presumably because of the libel laws, Cross confines his harsher remarks about the House of Commons to anonymities.

From Time Magazine Archive

Director Clair uses anonymities for his leads; Actor Raymond Cordy was a taxi-driver a year ago.

From Time Magazine Archive

I am not quite so pleased to get these anonymities, I must confess, as I am to get a clean, tall editio princeps of The Orphan or of Love for Love.

From Gossip in a Library by Edmund Gosse

I remember doing just the same thing once when I came home from school and had an exciting story to tell, with preservation of anonymities.

From New Grub Street by George Gissing

Down in the tanks inside the hull were a few luckless anonymities with search-lights, put there to watch for leaks from loose rivet-heads.

From The Cup of Fury A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Henry Raleigh