nobody
Americanpronoun
noun
-
nobodies
plural
pronoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of nobody
First recorded 1300–50; Middle English; see origin at no 2, body
Compare meaning
How does nobody compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Use the word nobody to mean "no one," or for someone who's completely unimportant or insignificant. It's not nice to call someone a nobody; everyone wants to be a somebody. If nobody is at home, you can ring the doorbell for an hour and get no response, and if nobody in your family likes pizza, there's no reason to order it for dinner. Since nobody means "no person," it's come to also have the meaning "insignificant person." It's hard not to feel like a nobody when your sister becomes famous after starring in a popular movie.
Vocabulary lists containing nobody
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.
See Examples For:
"People fear the environment where the shrine is. No evil will ever happen here. So, nobody fights vultures that perch here," a man they call the Vulture King tells the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Our rule is: Everybody goes or nobody goes,” Mandel said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Whatever was going on, nobody responded to Alcaraz’s desperate pleas for help and the shouts of the other inmates.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
"I'm innocent. I ain't killed nobody. Never did ever kill nobody," Davis said in March 2025 in an interview from prison with ABC News.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
When nobody else joins the conversation, Aunt Melissa clears her throat and turns to Andre.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
“They are both really nobodies; they’re both people doing a job,” O’Meara said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Once a star-making medium for nobodies with a dream and a microphone, podcasts are now dominated by the already-famous.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
"We are very proud of this! We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!"
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2025
A small group of nobodies on TikTok saying dumb shit is not a viral trend that necessitates mass hysteria in response.
From Slate ● Nov. 16, 2023
But when you make your eyes into slits, everything gets blurry, so everybody on that bus became blurry nobodies.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
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.
