Sans
adj, noun, prep
adj, noun, prep ·1 syllable ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 plural of san form-of, plural
- 2 plural of SAn form-of, plural
- 3 plural of SAN form-of, plural
Adjective
- 1 Ellipsis of sans serif. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, not-comparable
Preposition
- 1 Without; lacking, especially with regard to something expected or with precedent defective, humorous, literary
"Bero[wne]. […] And to begin Wench, ſo God helpe me law, My loue to thee is ſound, ſance cracke or flaw. Roſa[line]. Sans, ſans, I pray you."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Bernard Kouchner, who established Medecins Sans Frontieres, did not oppose the Iraq war."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English saunz, sans, borrowed from Old French sans, senz, sens, from Latin sine (“without”) conflated with absēns (“absent, remote”). Compare French sans, Italian senza, Portuguese sem, and Spanish sin.
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Related phrases
More for "sans"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.