topless

English

a topless woman on a beach in Spain

Etymology

From top +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

topless (not comparable)

1. Lacking a top.

   The sight-seeing bus is topless to allow tourists a better view of the sights.

2. (poetic) Very high, towering.
   • late 16th century Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus:

     Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,

     And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

3. (chiefly of a woman) Not wearing a garment covering the top half of the body; naked from the waist up.

   The council voted to allow topless swimmers on the beach.

4. (of a place) Featuring women that are naked from the waist up, often strippers or dancers.
   • 1975, Bob Dylan, "Tangled Up in Blue"

     She was workin' in a topless place

     And I stopped in for beer

     I just kept lookin' at the side of her face

     In the spotlight so clear.

   Only her closest friends knew that Jenny was working at a topless bar to help with college expenses.

Synonyms

• bare-breasted (of a woman)
• barechested (of a man)
• half-naked
• semi-nude
• shirtless (of a man)
• topfree

Derived terms

• toplessly
• toplessness

Translations

lacking a top

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 无顶, 無頂／无顶

• Finnish: yläosaton (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: без ве́рха (bez vérxa)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: üstsüz

naked from the waist up

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無上裝／无上装 (zh), 无上装 (zh) (wú shàngzhuāng), 上空 (zh) (shàngkōng)

• Czech: nahoře bez (cs)
• Danish: topløs
• Faroese: berbróstað
• Finnish: yläosaton (fi)
• French: topless (fr), seins nus
• German: barbusig (de), topless, oben ohne (de), busenfrei
• Greek: γυμνόστηθος (el) (gymnóstithos)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: トップレス (topuresu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: toppløs, topplaus

  Nynorsk: topplaus

• Portuguese: topless
• Russian: (of women) с обнажённой гру́дью (s obnažónnoj grúdʹju), (of men) с го́лым то́рсом (s gólym tórsom), то́плес (ru) (tóplɛs)
• Slovak: hore bez
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: üstsüz

featuring women that are naked from the waist up

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: yläosaton (fi)
• French: topless (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: barbusig (de), topless
• Japanese: トップレス (topuresu)
• Russian: то́плес (ru) (tóplɛs)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: col seno scoperto
• Spanish: en topless, de topless
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: topless (2), topless- (3), öppen (4)

Adverb

topless (not comparable)

1. Not wearing any clothes on the upper body.
   • 1985, Joan Morrison, Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 43:

     'I saw her,' said Neptune, 'sunbaking topless.'

Noun

topless (plural toplesses)

1. (automotive) A convertible car having the top retracted or otherwise open.

See also

• bottomless
• monokini
• toplessness

Anagrams

• Postels, potless

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English topless.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔp.ləs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: top‧less

Adjective

topless (not comparable)

1. topless (lacking clothes on the upper part of the body)

Inflection

Declension of topless
uninflected	topless
inflected	topless
comparative	—
		positive
predicative/adverbial		topless
indefinite	m./f. sing.	topless
	n. sing.	topless
	plural	topless
definite		topless
partitive		topless

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English topless.

Noun

topless m (uncountable)

1. The state of being topless
2. A monokini or similar

Derived terms

• in topless

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English topless.

Adjective

1. (of a woman) topless (naked from the waist up)

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• toples

Etymology

Borrowed from English topless.

Adjective

1. topless (of a woman, naked from the waist up)