anonymous

Borrowed into English around 1600 from Late Latin anonymus, from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νώνῠμος (ănṓnŭmos, “without name”), from ᾰ̓ν- (ăn-, “un-”) with ὄνῠμᾰ (ónŭmă), Aeolic and Doric dialectal form of ὄνομᾰ (ónomă, “name”). English equivalent anonym +‎ -ous, its full etymology being an- +‎ -onym +‎ -ous.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈnɒn.ə.məs/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈnɑ.nə.məs/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /əˈnɔn.ə.məs/
• Rhymes: -ɒnəməs

anonymous (comparative more anonymous, superlative most anonymous)

1. (not comparable) Lacking a name; not named, for example an animal not assigned to any species (clarification of this definition is needed).

   Synonym: nameless

   Coordinate term: no-name

2. (not comparable) Without any name acknowledged of a person responsible.

   Antonyms: autonymous, orthonymous

   Coordinate term: pseudonymous

   an anonymous pamphlet

   an anonymous subscription

   anonymous author or painter

3. (not comparable) Of unknown name; whose name is withheld

   Synonyms: unidentified, unknown, unnamed

   an anonymous author

   an anonymous benefactor

   No customer personal data will be retained unless it is rendered anonymous.

   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian‎:

     The shift in the balance of power online has allowed anyone to publish to the world, from dispirited teenagers in south London to an anonymous cyber-dissident in a Middle East autocracy.

4. (comparable, figurative) Lacking individuality.

   Synonym: faceless

   an anonymous office block in a soulless industrial estate

• (without consideration of prestige or background): on the merits

• onymous

• anonymous on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• John Doe
• unknown

• “anonymous”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “anonymous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.