toothless
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/IMG_6609_-_My_7_yrs_niece%27s_missing_teeth_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_March_2007.jpg/220px-IMG_6609_-_My_7_yrs_niece%27s_missing_teeth_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_March_2007.jpg)
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”).
Adjective
toothless (comparative more toothless, superlative most toothless)
- Having no teeth.
- a toothless old man
- (figuratively) Weak, having no capability of enforcing something.
- The treaty was toothless in combatting climate change.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
Having no teeth
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Being weak
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms suffixed with -less
- English lemmas
- English adjectives