Without
adv, conj, prep ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Outside, externally. archaic, literary, not-comparable
"And as each and all of them were warmed without by the sun, so each had a private little sun for her soul to bask in; some dream, some affection, some hobby, at least some remote and distant hope which, though perhaps starving to nothing, still lived on, as hopes will."
- 2 Lacking something; failing. not-comparable
"Being from a large, poor family, he learned to live without."
- 3 Without a condom being worn. euphemistic, not-comparable
"“What's within reason?” “Hand-job, blow-job, full sex — straight, full service. Greek, maybe, if you're not too big. Golden shower, if you like, but not reverse. No hardsports. And absolutely nothing without.”"
- 1 Outside of, beyond. archaic, literary
"MACBETH: There's blood upon your face. FIRST MURDERER: 'Tis Banquo's then. MACBETH: 'Tis better thee without than he within."
- 2 Not having, containing, characteristic of, etc.
"It was a mistake to leave my house without a coat."
- 3 Not doing or not having done something.
"He likes to eat everything without sharing."
- 1 Unless, except (introducing a clause). archaic, dialectal
"You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that ain't no matter."
Example
More examples"I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you."
Etymology
From Middle English withoute, withouten, from Old English wiþūtan (literally “against the outside of”). Compare Dutch buiten (“outside of, without”), Danish uden (“without”), Swedish utan (“without”), Norwegian uten (“without”). By surface analysis, with- + out. Superseded non-native Middle English sauns, sans (“without”), from Old French sans, sanz, senz (“without”). Compare typologically Proto-Slavic *bez (“without”) (<+ Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs (“out”)).
Related phrases
More for "without"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.