toothless

[ tooth-lis ]

adjective

1. lacking teeth. tooth.
2. without a serrated edge, as a saw.
3. lacking in force or sharpness; dull; ineffectual:

   a toothless argument.

Other Words From

• toothless·ly adverb
• toothless·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of toothless¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; tooth, -less

Example Sentences

Maybe your VP is fearful, or nonconfrontational, or saw the comments as toothless and beneath notice.

From Washington Post

The anecdotes are toothless and largely flattering to the subject, making the reader wonder what kind of juicy details he’s picked up after a lifetime in politics that he’s keeping to himself.

From Washington Post

Higgins of Bellingcat says the reaction to Navalny’s arrest is “utterly toothless.”

From Time

Texas, which put a fairly toothless stay-at-home order into place at the start of April, lifted it a month later.

From Vox

Michigan just appeared on the same Ann Arbor field where Penn State exited its 0-5 schneid against a defense still looking strangely toothless.

From Washington Post

It was like witnessing the last two weeks of the life of a blind and toothless dog you knew the vet was just itching to destroy.

From The Daily Beast

Trierweiler claims that Hollande, a socialist, showed contempt for the poor, supposedly calling them “the toothless.”

From The Daily Beast

This man, the man of the left, says in private ‘the toothless,’ proud of his quip.

From The Daily Beast

To those unaccustomed to the machinations of the UN, this may seem like yet another insignificant and toothless resolution.

From The Daily Beast

The statement after the emergency NATO meeting was a toothless collection of platitudes.

From The Daily Beast

As there were about sixty teeth, I think, in each pair, I felt myself much improved before the jaws were toothless.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a man well on in years, and wrecked by dissipation—almost bald and toothless, and with one foot crippled with gout.

From Project Gutenberg

The face of the old woman alone peeped out from them; a yellow, wrinkled, sharp-nosed, toothless face.

From Project Gutenberg

And so he did; and the old man laughed a toothless laugh, and said: 'O wise young man!

From Project Gutenberg

The old man carefully wiped his toothless mouth with both hands—and again staring at me, fell to chewing and munching his lips.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• flat