toothless
English
Etymology
From Middle English totheles, toþeles, from Old English tōþlēas, from Proto-Germanic *tanþlausaz (“toothless”), equivalent to tooth + -less. Cognate with Dutch tandeloos (“toothless”), German Low German tannlos (“toothless”), German zahnlos (“toothless”), Danish tandløs (“toothless”), Swedish tandlös (“toothless”), Icelandic tannlaus (“toothless”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtuθləs/, /ˈtuθlɪs/
Adjective
toothless (comparative more toothless, superlative most toothless)
- Having no teeth.
- a toothless old man
- (figuratively) Weak; having no ability to enforce something.
- The treaty was toothless because of the lack of participation from the undersigned.
- 1603, Ben Jonson, The Entertainment at Althorp
- Not tell? ha! ha! I could smile / At this old and toothless wile.
- 2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post:
- Bans of the sale of human remains across platforms like Facebook, Etsy, Instagram and eBay are toothless and poorly enforced, Huffer said. And when a page does get shut down, he said, it just pops up on a different website.
Synonyms
- edentate
- edentulous
- teethless
- See also Thesaurus:weak
Related terms
- toothlessness
- toothy
- voice of the toothless one
Translations
Having no teeth
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Being weak
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Anagrams
- shootlets