faceless

American  

[feys-lis] / ˈfeɪs lɪs /

adjective

1. without a face.

   a faceless apparition.

2. lacking personal distinction or identity.

   a faceless mob.

3. unidentified or unidentifiable; concealing one's identity.

   a faceless kidnapper.

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faceless British  

/ ˈfeɪslɪs /

adjective

1. without a face

2. without identity; anonymous

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Other Word Forms

• facelessness noun

Etymology

Origin of faceless

First recorded in 1560–70; face + -less

Explanation

Use the adjective faceless to mean impersonal or anonymous. The corrupt owner of a factory sees his employees as faceless worker bees. The enormous audience in a concert arena appears faceless to the rock band on stage. You also might think of the people who make the laws that affect you every day as nothing but faceless bureaucrats. When there's nothing distinct about a person or group, something that makes them stand out as a unique individual, they're faceless. It's also a good way to describe anything lacking character or interest, like a faceless row of identical suburban houses.

Example Sentences

His latest show, “Liminals,” opened last week in a former power plant in Berlin and includes a film of a faceless person navigating mysterious voids.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026

The room where they meet is a simple space in a faceless hospital but in the corner, there's a pile of boardgames on a chair.

From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025

Take the strange, faceless building at Melrose and Sycamore avenues, just up from the house where I grew up.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

"For me, in Catholicism, Jesus was born in a manger. He wasn't born in a tent with faceless parents, with nothing."

From Barron's • Dec. 2, 2025

Rather it was like a beautiful woman who requires the support and help of many faceless ones just to keep going.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• forgettable
• nameless