wordless

[wurd-lis]

adjective

1. speechless, silent, or mute.

2. not put into words; unexpressed.

ˈwordless

/ ˈwɜːdlɪs /

adjective

1. inarticulate or silent

2. music of or relating to vocal music that is not provided with an articulated text

   a wordless chorus

Other Word Forms

• wordlessly adverb
• wordlessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wordless¹

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; word, -less

Example Sentences

And although they recall many wordless moments of repose between takes, the shoot enlivened the actors far more than it exhausted them.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Just thinking about it prompted Penelope to start humming the wordless little sea chantey that Simon had been whistling earlier.

Read more on Literature

Then, when The Blind Man realizes that the rumored “Spirit of the Forest” is, in fact, this wounded, wordless being seeking nothing more than company, his reaction is not terror but tenderness.

Read more on Salon

The Predator is an extreme example: a literal monster from the Freddy Krueger generation, virtually wordless and best known for inflicting R-rated violence and taking the skulls of victims as trophies.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The most striking departures are the handful of wordless sequences of Hujar and Rosenkrantz posing in the manner of a fashion shoot, scored to snippets of Mozart’s Requiem.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• hidden 
• implicit 
• indirect 
• latent 
• lurking 
• tacit 
• unspoken