without
Valid in Scrabble
- Scrabble points
- 13
- Words With Friends
- 13
- Letters
- 7
See all 12 pronunciations Show less
Definition of without
7 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included
adv
-
(archaic, literary, not-comparable)Outside, externally.
“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.”
“Strange silence here: without, the sounding street Heralds the world's swift passage to the fire”
“I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.”
“The feeling seemed to come not from without, but from within each body, as though every person had become a vibrating string.”
“Brainiac: This earthquake is quite literally worldwide. Alex Danvers: But the seismic activity [isn't] coming from within the planet, it's coming from without.”
See all 7 definitions Show less
adv
-
(archaic, literary, not-comparable)Outside, externally.
“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.”
“Strange silence here: without, the sounding street Heralds the world's swift passage to the fire”
“I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.”
“The feeling seemed to come not from without, but from within each body, as though every person had become a vibrating string.”
“Brainiac: This earthquake is quite literally worldwide. Alex Danvers: But the seismic activity [isn't] coming from within the planet, it's coming from without.”
-
(not-comparable)Lacking something; failing.
“Being from a large, poor family, he learned to live without.”
“We've run out of bread; you'll have to do without until I can get to the bakeshop.”
“Whose can be used with a following noun or without.”
“Communication is a kind of beauty, he said – and “beauty manifests itself from the noun itself, without strawberries on the cake.””
-
(euphemistic, not-comparable)Without a condom being worn.
““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.””
prep
-
(archaic, literary)Outside of, beyond.
“MACBETH: There's blood upon your face. FIRST MURDERER: 'Tis Banquo's then. MACBETH: 'Tis better thee without than he within.”
“Without the gate / Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein.”
“From thence we came without the Eaſtern gate, (ſtanding on a low Banke, called the daughter of Syon, that over-toppeth the valley of Iehoſaphat,) unto an immoveable ſtone, upon the which they ſaid St. Stephen was ſtoned to death, the firſt Martyr of the Chriſtian faith; and the faithfull fore-runner of many noble followers.”
“Eternity, before the world and after, is without our reach.”
“[…] though it was pitch-dark, and we were obliged to be escorted by grooms and groomlings with candles and lanterns; a very necessary precaution, as the winds blew not more violently without the house than within.”
-
Not having, containing, characteristic of, etc.
“It was a mistake to leave my house without a coat.”
“I was without formal education but was well read and articulate.”
“From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.”
“One day my dreams were surely dying, dying, dying baby Just like a flower without rain”
“1967, Paul McCartney (writer), The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Life goes on within you and without you.”
-
Not doing or not having done something.
“He likes to eat everything without sharing.”
“He shot without warning anyone.”
“Without noticing it I grew old.”
“But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.”
“Athelstan Arundel walked home[…], foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.”
conj
-
(archaic, dialectal)Unless, except (introducing a clause).
“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.”
“‘Why,’ he blurted, ‘because they say I've no right to come up like this—without we mean to marry—’”
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
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”)).
Words you can make from without
37 playable · top: OUTWITH (13 pts)
Best play outwith 13 points6-letter words
2 words4-letter words
7 words3-letter words
16 words2-letter words
11 wordsHooks
1 extension · 1 back
A single letter you can add to without to make another valid word.
Back
Find your best play with without
See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes without, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.