from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Not expressed in words; unspoken.
adjective Inarticulate; silent.
from The Century Dictionary.
Silent; speechless.
Unexpressed in words.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
adjective Not using words; not speaking; silent; speechless.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective Conveyed without the use of words; unspoken or unsaid.
adjective Unable or unwilling to speak; dumb, silent or inarticulate.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adjective expressed without speech
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
word + -less
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Examples
She had spent the long night by the kitchen fire listening to the raging of the storm, Martha close beside her in wordless sympathy, and when Dr. Clay came in with the good news that the operation was over, and the great man believed that Libby Anne would live, she was almost hysterical with joy.
Mrs. Cavers leaned forward, straining her eyes after the cloud of dust that marked the pacing horse's progress, clasping and unclasping her hands in wordless misery.
One minute the ball went close to Millford's goal and Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Perkins clutched each other's hands in wordless dread; but the wiry form of Teddy Watson shot up in the air and the ball bounced back into the Millford captain's stick.
It's entirely wordless, which is actually a pretty clever choice on Robinson's part, as it allows for a number of surprising fake-out moments that might not have been so surprising if Robinson had allowed his characters the opportunity to speak through their situations.
EmmaSmith commented on the word wordless
I didn't think that this was a word, but I was wrong.
January 27, 2011