without
Language: English
Part of speech: prep
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɪðˈaʊt/
ipa: /wɪθˈaʊt/
ipa: /wɪθˈaʊt/
ipa: /wɪðˈaʊt/
ipa: /wɪˈθaʊt/
ipa: /wɪˈðaʊt/
ipa: [wɪθˈɐʊ̯t]
ipa: [wɪðˈɐʊ̯t]
ipa: [-əu̯t]
ipa: [-ʌʊ̯t]
ipa: [wɪθˈɛʊ̯t]
note: Ottawa Valley
ipa: [wɪɾ̥ˈəu̯t]
rhymes: -aʊt
Forms: form: withoute
form: wythoute
form: wythowt
form: wythowte
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.
Superseded non-native Middle English sauns, sans (“without”), from Old French sans, sanz, senz (“without”).
Senses: examples: text: MACBETH: There's blood upon your face.
FIRST MURDERER: 'Tis Banquo's then.
MACBETH: 'Tis better thee without than he within.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
text: Without the gate / Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: Eternity, before the world and after, is without our reach.
ref: c. 1689, Thomas Burnet, The Sacred Theory of the Earth:
text: […] 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.
ref: 1835, William Beckford, Italy: With Sketches of Spain and Portugal, volume 1, page 13:
text: [...] 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].
ref: 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 08 Jun 2021, Provisions, page 19:
antonyms: within
glosses: Outside of, beyond.
examples: text: It was a mistake to leave my house without a coat.
text: I was without formal education but was well read and articulate.
text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: One day my dreams were surely dying, dying, dying baby
Just like a flower without rain
ref: 1968 December 8, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder, “I’d Be a Fool Right Now”, in For Once in My Life, performed by Stevie Wonder, Tamla Records:
text: 1967, Paul McCartney (writer), The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Life goes on within you and without you.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
text: "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."
ref: 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 Sep 2022:
antonyms: with
glosses: Not having, containing, characteristic of, etc.
examples: text: He likes to eat everything without sharing.
text: He shot without warning anyone.
text: Without noticing it I grew old.
text: 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.
ref: 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
glosses: Not doing or not having done something.
Synonyms: lacking
outwith
with no
-less
w/o
sans
-free
minus
Derived terms: absence without leave
absent without leave
a prophet is not without honor save in his own country
a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle
can't live with them and can't live without them
cold without
decimal without a zero
distinction without a difference
do without
face without makeup
fly without a licence
go without
go without saying
handle without gloves
handle without mittens
it goes without saying
let he who is without sin cast the first stone
let him that is without sin cast the first stone
let him who is without sin cast the first stone
Life without Death
make bricks without straw
make bricks without straws
make off without payment
making off without payment
may the Force be without you
minister without portfolio
no gain without pain
no rose without a thorn
no show without Punch
no smoke without fire
nothing about us without us
rebel without a cause
reckon without
reckon without one's host
syndrome without a name
there's no smoke without fire
times without number
up a creek without a paddle
up the creek without a paddle
up shit creek without a paddle
up shit's creek without a paddle
without accident
without a doubt
without a hitch
without a murmur
without a scratch
without a shadow of a doubt
without a trace
without trace
without a word of a lie
without batting an eye
without batting an eyelash
without batting an eyelid
without biscuits
without blinking an eye
without blinking an eyelash
without blinking an eyelid
without book
without cause
without cease
without ceremony
without coffee
without day
without-door
withoutdoors
without doubt
without end
without exception
without fail
without fear or favor
without fear or favour
without further ado
without incident
without loss of generality
withoutness
without number
without prejudice
without price
without question
without recourse
without so much as a by your leave
without tea and biscuits
without tears
without troubling the scorers
without welt or guard
Wokingham Without
world without end
you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse