nameless
Americanadjective
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having no name.
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left unnamed.
a certain person who shall be nameless.
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anonymous.
a nameless source of information.
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incapable of being specified or described.
a nameless charm.
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too shocking or vile to be specified.
a nameless crime.
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having no legitimate paternal name, as a child born out of wedlock.
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unknown to fame; obscure.
a nameless poet; nameless defenders of the country.
adjective
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without a name; anonymous
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incapable of being named; indescribable
a nameless horror seized him
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too unpleasant or disturbing to be mentioned
nameless atrocities
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having no legal name; illegitimate
a nameless child
Usage
What does nameless mean? Nameless means having no name, as in Emily Dickensen’s poems are all nameless, so we refer to them by their first lines instead.Nameless also means anonymous, as in Journalists sometimes use nameless sources of information in order to get the details they need for their stories.You might use nameless to describe something incapable of being described, such as a nameless charm.Example: A nameless writer created one of the world’s most well-known proverbs.
Other Word Forms
- namelessly adverb
- namelessness noun
- quasi-nameless adjective
Etymology
Origin of nameless
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.
Despite lying beneath unmarked stones, these young people were not nameless.
From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026
An editor who shall remain nameless told me today that no one seemed to care about the latest consumer price index print—that it was stale data in the wake of rising oil prices.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
Its denizens are mostly nameless, speaking only when spoken to—props in the psychological drama of four young protagonists.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
It is these nameless men and women who help us better understand this chapter of India's history.
From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025
My head empties out, and I smell something like nameless flowers.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
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.
