adj
Meaning 1
Conveyed without the use of words; unspoken or unsaid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
wordless
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: W ER1 D L AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Unable or unwilling to speak; dumb, silent or inarticulate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: speechless
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 3
expressed without speech- Emily Dickinson- Thomas Wolfe
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a mute appeal
- a silent curse
- best grief is tongueless
- the words stopped at her lips unsounded
- unspoken grief
- choking exasperation and wordless shame
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: mute, tongueless, unspoken
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English wordles, equivalent to word + -less. Compare Dutch woordeloos (“speechless, inexpressible in words”), German wortlos (“silent, speechless”), Danish ordløs (“wordless”), Swedish ordlös (“wordless”), Icelandic orðlaus (“wordless, speechless”).
Across languages
Translations
10 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: неизразен с думи (neizrazen s dumi) — unspoken
- Finnish: sanaton — unspoken
- Galician: sen palabras — unspoken
- Polish: bezsłowny — unspoken
- Polish: bezwyrazowy — unspoken
- Vietnamese: vô ngôn — unspoken
- Bulgarian: безмълвен (bezmǎlven) — unable or unwilling to speak
- Finnish: mykkä — unable or unwilling to speak
- Finnish: sanaton — unable or unwilling to speak
- Hindi: निःशब्द (niḥśabd) — unable or unwilling to speak
Real reading context