without
Americanpreposition
-
with the absence, omission, or avoidance of; not with; with no or none of; lacking.
without help; without shoes; without her helping me; without him to help.
-
free from; excluding.
a world without hunger.
-
not accompanied by.
Don't go without me.
-
at, on, or to the outside of; outside of.
both within and without the house or the city.
-
beyond the compass, limits, range, or scope of (now used chiefly in opposition towithin ).
whether within or without the law.
adverb
-
in or into an exterior or outer place; outside.
-
outside a house, building, etc..
The carriage awaits without.
-
lacking something implied or understood.
We must take this or go without.
-
as regards the outside; externally.
noun
conjunction
preposition
-
not having
a traveller without much money
-
not accompanied by
he came without his wife
-
not making use of
it is not easy to undo screws without a screwdriver
-
(foll by a verbal noun or noun phrase) not, while not, or after not
she can sing for two minutes without drawing breath
-
archaic on the outside of
adverb
conjunction
Etymology
Origin of without
First recorded before 900; Middle English withouten, Old English withūtan (adverb and preposition); equivalent to with + out
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.
And in accepting the award for actor in a drama series for “Paradise,” Sterling K. Brown added, “Like Sam said, they can’t erase us because there is no country without us.”
From Los Angeles Times
Bombs without boots are seldom primed to have strategic impact.
Without a patent, he says, companies risk pouring money into a product with little financial protection.
From BBC
Vance is wearing a suit and white shirt, without a tie.
From Barron's
Tracy said he wanted to respect the source material, but without feeling constricted by it.
From Barron's
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.
