without

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English

Alternative forms

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.

Pronunciation

Adverb

without (not comparable)

  1. (archaic or literary) Outside, externally.
    • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 18:
      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.
    • 1900, Ernest Dowson, Benedictio Domini, lines 13–14:
      Strange silence here: without, the sounding street
      Heralds the world's swift passage to the fire
    • 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, Norton, published 2005, page 1100:
      I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.
    • 2016, Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu, Death's End, Tor, translation of 死神永生, →ISBN, page 236:
      The feeling seemed to come not from without, but from within each body, as though every person had become a vibrating string.
    • 2019 December 8, Supergirl (TV series), season 5, episode 8, "Crisis on Infinite Earths":
      Brainiac: This earthquake is quite literally worldwide.
      Alex Danvers: But the seismic activity coming from within the planet, it's coming from without.
  2. 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 on Monday.
  3. (prostitution, euphemistic) Without a condom being worn.
    • 2012, Maxim Jakubowski, The Best British Crime Omnibus:
      “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.”

Usage notes

  • Sense 1 is still used in the names of some civil parishes in England, e.g. St Cuthbert Without.

Derived terms

Preposition

without

  1. (archaic or literary) Outside of, beyond.
    Antonym: within
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      MACBETH: There's blood upon your face.
      FIRST MURDERER: 'Tis Banquo's then.
      MACBETH: 'Tis better thee without than he within.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:
      Without the gate / Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein.
    • 1640, William Lithgow, “The Sixt Part”, in The Totall Diſcourſe, Of the rare Adventures, and painefull Peregrinations of long nineteene yeares Travailes from Scotland, to the moſt famous Kingdomes in Europe, Aſia, and Affrica , London: I. Okes, page 249:
      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.
    • c. 1689, Thomas Burnet, The Sacred Theory of the Earth:
      Eternity, before the world and after, is without our reach.
    • 1835, William Beckford, Italy: With Sketches of Spain and Portugal, volume 1, page 13:
      […] 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.
    • 1838 [1836], “Constitution of the Republic of Texas”, in Laws of the Republic of Texas, in Two Volumes‎, volume 1, Houston, archived from the original on 8 June 2021, Provisions, page 19:
      [...] nor shall any slave holder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave or slaves without the consent of congress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the republic [of Texas].
  2. Not having, containing, characteristic of, etc.
    Antonym: with
    It was a mistake to leave my house without a coat.
    • 1918, W B Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1968 December 8, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder (lyrics and music), “I’d Be a Fool Right Now”, in For Once in My Life, performed by Stevie Wonder:
      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.
    • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
      Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema.
    • 2022 September 11, Scott McDonald, quoting President Volodymyr Zelensky, “Cold, Hunger and Darkness in Ukraine 'Not as Terrible' as Russia: Zelensky”, in Newsweek‎, archived from the original on 12 September 2022‎:
      "Read lips: Without gas or without you? Without you. Without light or without you? Without you. Without water or without you? Without you. Without food or without you? Without you.
      "Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as terrible and deadly for us as your "friendship and brotherhood."
  3. Not doing or not having done something.
    He likes to eat everything without sharing.
    He shot without warning anyone.
    • 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood , New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons , →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate , New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , →OCLC, page 16:
      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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Conjunction

without

  1. (archaic or dialectal) Unless, except (introducing a clause).

Anagrams

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