Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having an unknown or unacknowledged name: an anonymous author.
- adj. Having an unknown or withheld authorship or agency: an anonymous letter; an anonymous phone call.
- adj. Having no distinctive character or recognition factor: "a very great, almost anonymous center of people who just want peace” ( Alan Paton).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Wanting a name; not named and determined, as an animal not assigned to any species.
- Without any name acknowledged, as that of author, contributor, or the like: as, an anonymous pamphlet; an anonymous subscription.
- Of unknown name; whose name is withheld: as, an anonymous author.
- Often abbreviated to anon.
Wiktionary
- adj. not comparable Lacking a name; not named and determined, as an animal not assigned to any species.
- adj. not comparable Without any name acknowledged of a person responsible, as that of author, contributor, or the like.
- adj. not comparable Of unknown name; whose name is withheld
- adj. comparable Lacking individuality.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Nameless; of unknown name; also, of unknown or unavowed authorship
WordNet 3.0
- adj. having no known name or identity or known source
- adj. not known or lacking marked individuality
Etymologies
- Borrowed into English around 1600 from Late Latin anonymus, from Ancient Greek ἀνώνυμος (anōnumos, "without name"), from ἀν- (an, "without") + ὄνυμα (onuma), Aeolic dialectal form of ὄνομα (onoma, "name"). (Wiktionary)
- From Late Latin anōnymus, from Greek anōnumos, nameless : an-, without; see a-1 + onuma, name (influenced by earlier nōnumnos, nameless); see nŏ̄-men- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It was an _anonymous_ Collection; and, as being anonymous, seemed to have no claim upon Christians.”
“The man, who wants to remain anonymous, is believed to have picked up the disease when he lived in Indonesia.”
“One Democratic fundraiser, who wishes to remain anonymous, is convinced that the answer is no.”
“He did not give any further explanation about why he set up the company and kept his name anonymous initially.”
“Taken in its classic definition, the term anonymous might refer to that without characteristic something so devoid of distinction that it refuses its own identity.”
“Commissioner Fivaz described opposition from what he called anonymous police officials and certain police unions to the impending shake-up in the South African Police Service, as disappointing.”
“When I would make speeches I would refer always to what I called the anonymous greats.”
“And a bunch of other bad things I'd rather not reveal even if you're keeping my name anonymous.”
“Throughout his life, Sori Yanagi was inspired by what he called "anonymous design" - he cited the Jeep and a baseball glove as two examples - and he in turn inspired younger designers, like Naoto Fukasawa, Tom Dixon and Jasper Morrison.”
“They said committee investigators had interviewed GlaxoSmithKline and agency employees as well as what it called anonymous whistleblowers.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anonymous’.
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Introverted
Quiet, shy, Introverted, reserved, isolated, mysterious
abashed, alienated, alone, anonymous, antisocial, ascetic, asocial, austere, autonomous, awkward, bashful, clannish and 91 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Realism
Words to describe the art during the Realist movement
reality, harsh, criticizing, working-class, labor, working, organized, status, satire, dark, masses, ordinary and 45 more...
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maf
sectarian, sectarian =narrow..., oppression, oppress, sort out, worldwide, legit, constrain, constrained, I feel constrained, constraint, divisive and 56 more...
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words
my words. my mind. my gosh.
try not to enjoy it too much.git, ghoti, sauce, quail, querulous, quarrelsome, reliability, untoward, incongruities, fission, fanatic, apple and 206 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL A
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 172 more...
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GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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feeling words
twitterpated, loquacious, ambiguous, pensive, sluggish, anxious, adventurous, curious, abandoned, absent-minded, abrasive, abused and 653 more...
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GPaX. Words.
excogitate, clarity, obscurity, tangential, interesting, regurgitate, mycelium, degradation, unladen, swallow, klein, quote and 120 more...
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Behr Paint Colors
Names used for Behr Paints in spring of 2008. I'm curious to see if Behr gives the same colors different names in other years, so I've tagged each color with its Behr product number. It turns out t...
billowy clouds, soft lace, victorian pearl, china cup, soft muslin, bleached shell, belgian cream, chamois cloth, natural linen, popped corn, divine pleasure, vanilla delight and 283 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
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lucidityprevails's Words
lucidity, journalistic, truthiness, foolhardy, egotism, lesbian, orgasmic, activism, moonglow, voodoo, conquer, demolish and 534 more...
Tweets
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