toothless

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English

Etymology

From Middle English totheles, toþeles, from Old English tōþlēas, from Proto-Germanic *tanþlausaz (“toothless”), equivalent to tooth +‎ -less. Cognate with Dutch tandeloos (“toothless”), German Low German tannlos (“toothless”), German zahnlos (“toothless”), Danish tandløs (“toothless”), Swedish tandlös (“toothless”), Icelandic tannlaus (“toothless”).

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtuθləs/, /ˈtuθlɪs/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Adjective

toothless (comparative more toothless, superlative most toothless)

  1. Having no teeth.
    a toothless old man
  2. (figuratively) Weak; having no ability to enforce something.
    The treaty was toothless because of the lack of participation from the undersigned.
    • 1603, Ben Jonson, The Entertainment at Althorp:
      Not tell? ha! ha! I could smile / At this old and toothless wile.
    • 2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post‎:
      Bans of the sale of human remains across platforms like Facebook, Etsy, Instagram and eBay are toothless and poorly enforced, Huffer said. And when a page does get shut down, he said, it just pops up on a different website.

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