Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having an unknown or unacknowledged name.
- adjective Having an unknown or withheld authorship or agency.
- adjective Having no distinctive character or recognition factor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- 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 .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Nameless; of unknown name; also, of unknown or unavowed authorship
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective not comparable Lacking a
name ; not named and determined, as an animal not assigned to any species. - adjective not comparable Without any name
acknowledged of a person responsible, as that of author, contributor, or the like. - adjective not comparable Of
unknown name; whose name iswithheld - adjective comparable Lacking individuality.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective having no known name or identity or known source
- adjective not known or lacking marked individuality
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It was an _anonymous_ Collection; and, as being anonymous, seemed to have no claim upon Christians.
Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive Christianity John Henry Newman 1845
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The man, who wants to remain anonymous, is believed to have picked up the disease when he lived in Indonesia.
Northern Ireland Man Is Diagnosed With Leprosy | Impact Lab 2007
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One Democratic fundraiser, who wishes to remain anonymous, is convinced that the answer is no.
Making Sense of McCain-Feingold and Campaign-Finance Reform 2003
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One Democratic fundraiser, who wishes to remain anonymous, is convinced that the answer is no.
Making Sense of McCain-Feingold and Campaign-Finance Reform 2003
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He did not give any further explanation about why he set up the company and kept his name anonymous initially.
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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.
Yes Weekly 2009
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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.
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When I would make speeches I would refer always to what I called the anonymous greats.
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And a bunch of other bad things I'd rather not reveal even if you're keeping my name anonymous.
Forbes.com: News Forbes 2011
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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.
NYT > Home Page By BROOKE HODGE 2012
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