matchless

English

Etymology 1

From match +‎ -less, modelled after or partly continuing (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English makeless (“having no peer or equal, matchless”), equivalent to make +‎ -less. Compare Swedish makalös (“incomparable, matchless”), Danish mageløs (“matchless”).

Adjective

matchless (comparative more matchless, superlative most matchless)

1. Having no match; without equal.
   • 1819, Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, ch. 8:

     [T]he Prince was to declare the victor in the first day's tourney, who should receive as prize a warhorse of exquisite beauty and matchless strength.

   • 2002, Daniel Okrent, "Books: A Prince of a Pitcher" (Review of: Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy), Time, 30 Sept.:

     It was not his matchless talent that exalted Koufax beyond his greatest contemporaries so much as it was his knowledge that character was not connected to talent.

2. Having no mate.
   • 2010, Sandra Brennan, "Movies: The Flying Matchmaker (1966)," nytimes.com, 1 June (retrieved 13 Sep 2010):

     In this comedy, a matchmaker has a matchless daughter. Try as he might, he cannot seem to find anyone for her.

Synonyms

• (without equal): incomparable, nonpareil, peerless, unequaled, unmatched, unparalleled, unsurpassed
• (having no mate): single, unattached

Derived terms

• matchlessly
• matchlessness

Translations

without equal

• Georgian: უბადლო (ubadlo), შეუდარებელი (šeudarebeli), სწორუპოვარი (sc̣oruṗovari)
• Hungarian: utánozhatatlan (hu), egyedülálló (hu), páratlan (hu)
• Japanese: 冠絶する (ja) (kanzetsu suru), 無敵の (muteki no)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: kei tua o kapenga
• Russian: несравне́нный (ru) (nesravnénnyj)
• Telugu: సాటిలేని (te) (sāṭilēni)

Etymology 2

match +‎ -less

Adjective

matchless (not comparable)

1. Without the use of matches for ignition.

   a matchless stove