nameless

adjective

name·​less ˈnām-ləs How to pronounce nameless (audio)
1
2
: not known by name : anonymous
3
: having no legal right to a name (as due to being born to parents not married to each other)
4
: not having been given a name : unnamed
5
: not marked with a name
a nameless grave
6
a
: incapable of precise description : indefinable
b
: too repulsive or distressing to describe
namelessly adverb
namelessness noun

Examples of nameless in a Sentence

She left the hotel with a nameless man in a black jacket. The source for my story prefers to remain nameless. A top government official, who shall remain nameless, has expressed concern about the decision. The men were buried there in nameless graves.
Recent Examples on the Web On one of these trips, Ana invites a nameless man to her hotel room. Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Mar. 2024 Crafted with confidence and style by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, the film stars Ryan Gosling as a nameless, almost dialogue-less stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. Janey Tracey, EW.com, 29 Feb. 2024 Nearby a flat boulder cloaked in the shade of the yawning oak trees was dimpled with grinding holes created by nameless Native Americans, decades, or even centuries, ago. Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Feb. 2024 These three other newfound species are also officially nameless so far. Ashley Balzer Vigil, Scientific American, 16 Jan. 2024 If a cloud provider of a decoupled videoconferencing service is breached, all that’s visible is the flow of encrypted bytes to and from other nameless cloud servers. Barath Raghavan, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Nov. 2023 Back home, Duncan spoke of those nameless Marines in their body bags waiting for their ride out as a moment of clarity. Darryl Levings, Kansas City Star, 26 Jan. 2024 Nor was this wholly backroom work, done furtively by nameless bureaucrats in windowless ministries. Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023 Whereas murder mysteries tend to feature detectives working the cases people bring them, Darby started with nameless bodies and tried to turn their mute unwitnessed suffering into cases. Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nameless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nameless was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near nameless

Cite this Entry

“Nameless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nameless. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

nameless

adjective
name·​less ˈnām-ləs How to pronounce nameless (audio)
1
: having no name
2
: not marked with a name
a nameless grave
3
: unknown entry 1, anonymous
a nameless hero
4
a
: impossible to describe
nameless fears
b
: too disgusting or disturbing to be described
nameless acts of cruelty

More from Merriam-Webster on nameless

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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