Without

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /wɪθˈaÊŠt/, /wɪðˈaÊŠt/
• Hyphenation: with + out

Alternative forms

• withoute archaic; wythoute, wythowt obsolete, wythowte obsolete

Origin

From Late Old English wiþūtan. - + out

Full definition of without

Adverb

1. (archaic or literary) outside, externally
• c.1600s, William Shakespeare, MacbethMacbeth: There's blood upon your faceMurderer: 'tis Banquo's thenMacbeth: 'tis better thee without then he within.
• 1900, Ernest Dowson, Benedictio Domini, lines 13-14Strange silence here: without, the sounding streetHeralds the world's swift passage to the fire
• 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez (Norton 2005, p.1100)I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.
2. Lacking something.Being from a large, poor family, he learned to live without.

Preposition

1. (archaic or literary) Outside of, beyond.
   The snow was swirling without the cottage, but it was warm within.
• John Dryden (1631-1700)Without the gate
  Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein.
• Thomas Burnet (1635?-1715)Eternity, before the world and after, is without our reach.
• 1967, George Harrison, Sgt PepperLife goes on within you and without you.
2. Not having, containing, characteristic of, etc.
   It was a mistake to leave my house without a coat.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 22, 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.
• 1967, George Harrison, Sgt PepperLife goes on within you and without you.
• 2013-06-29, Travels and travails, 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.
3. Not doing or not having done something.
   He likes to eat everything without sharing.
   He shot without warning anyone.
• 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate Chapter Prologue, 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.

Derived terms

• withoutness

Synonyms

• lacking, outwith, with no, -less, w/o, sans

Antonyms

• (outside) within
• (not having) with, having, characteristic of, endowed with

Conjunction

1. Unless, except (introducing a clause).
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XV:thou shalt be confounded withoute thou yelde me my tresoure.
• 1913, DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, p. 264:‘Why,’ he blurted, ‘because they say I've no right to come up like this – without we mean to marry—’
• 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin HoodBut 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.

Anagrams

• outwith