anybody

[en-ee-bod-ee, -buhd-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR anybody ON THESAURUS.COM

pronoun

any person.

noun, plural an·y·bod·ies.

a person of some importance: If you're anybody, you'll receive an invitation.

Idioms

anybody's guess, a matter of conjecture: It's anybody's guess why she quit.

Origin of anybody

First recorded in 1250–1300, anybody is from the Middle English word ani bodi. See any, body

Can be confusedantibody anybody (see usage note at the current entry)

Usage note

The pronoun anybody is always written as one word: Is anybody home? There isn't anybody in the office. The two-word noun phrase any body means “any group” ( Any body of students will include a few dissidents ) or “any physical body”: The search continued for a week despite the failure to find any body. If the word a can be substituted for any without seriously affecting the meaning, the two-word noun phrase is called for: a body of students; failure to find a body. If the substitution cannot be made, the spelling is anybody. Anybody is less formal than anyone. See also anyone, each, they.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for anybody

anyone, everyone, public, everybody, all, masses, one

Examples from the Web for anybody

Contemporary Examples of anybody

As anybody who has seen his now famous rant on Parks and Recreation knows, Patton Oswalt can get a little obsessed.
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire
William O’Connor
January 6, 2015
“Any time you put a foreign substance into anybody you have the potential for an adverse event,” Geisbert reminds.
Uh Oh: Ebola Vaccine Trials Stop
Leigh Cowart
December 19, 2014
“He has one of the most unabashedly pro-life records as anybody in the field,” said Mackowiak.
How A Jeb Bush Candidacy Would Hurt Chris Christie And Shake Up The 2016 GOP Field
David Freedlander
December 16, 2014
I harbor a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy, just like anybody, and I welcomed the challenge.
Michael C. Hall on Going Drag for ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ and Exorcising ‘Dexter’
Marlow Stern
December 4, 2014
The veteran officer believes Garner might have survived had anybody heeded his pleas.
‘I Can’t Breathe!’ ‘I Can’t Breathe!’ A Moral Indictment of Cop Culture
Michael Daly
December 4, 2014

Historical Examples of anybody

They thought their own habits and customs just a trifle better than those of anybody else.
Ancient Man
Hendrik Willem van Loon
In his sane moments he did not care a fig for anybody's birthday.
Viviette
William J. Locke
Such a course is frequent and would not give the right of complaint to anybody.
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. Cook
Do not say a word to anybody about what has occurred to-night.
Life in London
Edwin Hodder
Well, of course, I could do better with it than anybody out of the family.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for anybody

anybody

pronoun

any person; anyone

(usually used with a negative or a question) a person of any importancehe isn't anybody in this town

noun plural -bodies

(often preceded by just) any person at random; no matter who

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anybody

c.1300, ani-bodi, from any + body. One-word form is attested by 1826. Phrase anybody's game (or race, etc.) is from 1840.