nowhere

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English nowher, from Old English nōhwēr, nāhwǣr, from nā- + hwǣr. By surface analysis, no +‎ where.

Adjective usage is taken from phrases like nowhere on the map (signifying the location was too small or too insignificant to be listed), nowhere you want to be, etc.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

nowhere (not comparable)

  1. In no place.
    Nowhere did the rules say anything about popcorn.
  2. To no place.
    We sat in traffic, going nowhere.

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

nowhere (not comparable)

  1. Unimportant; unworthy of notice.
    • 1872, “Reviews of Postal Publications”, in The Stamp-Collector's Magazine, volume 10, page 110:
      As a foreign stamp gazette it is nowhere. An article on Stamp Collecting, by J. E. Gray, “reprinted from one of his books,” and a catalogue of stamps constitute its sole attraction. We are surprised to find such sounding pretentions so poorly supported.
    • 2008, Cricket Sawyer, Lavender Lust, →ISBN, page 180:
      Elinore was such a bitch, such a nowhere person.
    • 2012, Nicholas Borelli, Let No Man Be My Albatross, →ISBN, page 247:
      He always allowed them to motivate him to a level of intensity to do better, rather than remain in a nowhere life in a nowhere place like Harlem.

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

nowhere (plural nowheres)

  1. No particular place, noplace.
    They went on a cruise to nowhere.
    • 1912, Charles Inge, “Nemesis or Bad Luck?”, in The Windsor magazine, volume 36, page 95:
      While they paced the platform of the station, they reviewed the career of misdemeanours—Nutley, Chiddiugstone, Midhurst, Penn, and many nowheres, and now Aylesbury.
    • 1976, “The Gambler”, Don Schlitz (lyrics):
      On a warm summer's evening On a train bound for nowhere I met up with the gambler
    • 1996 Oct, Indianapolis Monthly, volume 20, number 2, page 115:
      Oh, not the middle of nowhere like the rest of Indiana, but a nowhere so flat and ugly you want to lie down in a ditch and never get up again.
    • 2005, Dave Finkelstein with Jack London and Philip Caputo, Greater Nowheres: Wanderings Across the Outback, page xxiv:
      But some Nowheres do still exist and are there to be found by any genuinely free spirit willing to hook a caravan behind his four-wheel-drive and dream, say, of finding that isolated campsite beside an as yet undiscovered waterhole

Derived terms[edit]

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Anagrams[edit]

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