without — English Dictionary

Adverb

1. Outside, externally.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • Literary
   • not-comparable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

   Strange silence here: without, the sounding street Heralds the world's swift passage to the fire

   I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.

   More examples (2)

   The feeling seemed to come not from without, but from within each body, as though every person had become a vibrating string.

   Brainiac: This earthquake is quite literally worldwide. Alex Danvers: But the seismic activity [isn't] coming from within the planet, it's coming from without.

2. Lacking something; failing.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   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.

   More examples (2)

   Whose can be used with a following noun or without.

   Communication is a kind of beauty, he said – and “beauty manifests itself from the noun itself, without strawberries on the cake.”

3. Without a condom being worn.

   Usage

   • euphemistic
   • not-comparable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   “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.”

Preposition

1. Outside of, beyond.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • Literary

   Antonyms

   within

   Examples

   MACBETH: There's blood upon your face. FIRST MURDERER: 'Tis Banquo's then. MACBETH: 'Tis better thee without than he within.

   Without the gate / Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein.

   More examples (4)

   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.

   Eternity, before the world and after, is without our reach.

   […] 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.

   [...] 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.

   Antonyms

   with

   Examples

   I drink tea without sugar.

   It was a mistake to leave my house without a coat.

   I was without formal education but was well read and articulate.

   More examples (5)

   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.

   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.

   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.

   "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.

   Examples

   She left without saying goodbye.

   He likes to eat everything without sharing.

   He shot without warning anyone.

   More examples (3)

   Without noticing it I grew old.

   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.

   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.

Conjunction

1. Unless, except (introducing a clause).

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • dialectal

   Examples

   You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that ain't no matter.

   ‘Why,’ he blurted, ‘because they say I've no right to come up like this—without we mean to marry—’

Noun

1. Someone or something lacking in something.

   Usage

   • Uncommon