Sleeveless

//ˈsliːvlɪs// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of a garment, having no sleeves. not-comparable

    "She wore a short surcoat of scarlet, cut low around the shoulders, sleeveless, reaching just below her hips, like the tabards worn by medieval heralds. Over it she wore a laced-edged cotta."

  2. 2
    Wanting a cover, pretext, or palliation; unreasonable; profitless; useless. not-comparable, obsolete

    "a sleeveless errand"

Adjective
  1. 1
    unproductive of success wordnet
  2. 2
    having no sleeves wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bootlessfruitlessfruitlessfutilevain

Example

More examples

"Anyway what are you on about? Going around sleeveless in this cold."

Etymology

From Middle English slevelees, sleveles, from Old English slīeflēas (“sleeveless”), equivalent to sleeve + -less.

More for "sleeveless"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.