anonymity

 anonymity on Wikipedia

From Latin anonymus or its etymon Ancient Greek ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos, “anonymous”) +‎ -ity. Compare French anonymité.

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ænəˈnɪmɪti/

• Audio (US):

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anonymity (countable and uncountable, plural anonymities)

1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being anonymous (nameless or unidentified).

   Synonym: anonymousness

   Antonym: onymity

   Coordinate terms: (sometimes synonymous) namelessness, unidentifiedness, unnamedness

   • 1976, Joni Mitchell, Song for Sharon:

     Now there are twenty-nine skaters on Wollman Rink
     Circling in singles and in pairs
     In this vigorous anonymity

   • 2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1085:

     Although the pen-and-paper questionnaires did not require students to give their names, the potential for the teacher to be able to recognise handwriting of individual students led to the perceived loss of anonymity.

   • 2020 December 2, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, “I enjoy really big challenges...”, in Rail, page 55:

     "It really took off. People would literally come up to me in the street in New York saying 'Hey, Train Daddy, how's it goin'?'
     "I am quite enjoying the anonymity of London so far..."
     Given the high-profile task ahead of him, that isn't going to last for long.

2. (countable) That which is anonymous.
   • 2006, Jatindra Mohan Mohanty, History of Oriya Literature, page 516:

     In one sense the protagonist is the poet himself, but in another sense he is an anonymity.

3. (uncountable) The quality or state of being generally unknown, unrecognized, or uncelebrated.
   • 1920, John M Mecklin, “The Traits of the Great Society as Illustrated by the Corporation”, in An Introduction to Social Ethics: The Social Conscience in a Democracy, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, part I (Historical and Introductory), chapter IV (The Great Society), pages 78–79:

     The profiteer who through a combine fleeces the public would scorn to wrong a friend or betray those of his own household. The problem then resolves itself into a question of the elimination of the impersonality, the anonymity of modern life that is made an excuse for moral irresponsibility.

   • 1978 April 23–29, “Ex-Python John Cleese sets up ‘Fawlty Towers’”, in TV Week (Tallahassee Democrat), Tallahassee, Fla., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:

     Actually, pin-striped anonymity in the city once seemed a more likely destination. He was a nervous, awkward teenager, six-foot by the age of 12, six-five fully grown, always trying to appear nicer and more orthodox than he felt he really was.

   • 2024 October 25, Adam Sage, “Lucas Bravo: Life’s too short to keep acting in Emily in Paris”, in The Times‎, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 October 2024:

     Having been propelled from anonymity to global recognition by his role in the first four series of Emily in Paris, Bravo, 36, suggested he might not be involved in the fifth.

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Anonymity”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 347, column 3.
• “anonymity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.