Meanings
- not comparableOf plants or trees, without leaves.
In winter the leafless trees look cold.
3 more examples
One afternoon, when all the party from the house were riding, Adeline sauntered under the leafless, hazel hedges, which separated the pleasure domain from the park.
1842, [Katherine] Thomson, chapter XI, in Widows and Widowers. A Romance of Real Life., volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 214Not a latent echo in the house, not a squeak and scuffle from the mice behind the panneling, not a drip from the half-thawed water-spout in the dull yard behind, not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one despondent poplar, not the idle swinging of an empty store-house door, no, not a clicking in the fire, but fell upon the heart of Scrooge with softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears.
1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 50For many times with the laughing girls and boys / Played I along the road and over the hills / When the sun was low and the air was cool, / Stopping to club the walnut tree / Standing leafless against a flaming west.
1915, Edgar Lee Masters, “Hare Drummer”, in Spoon River Anthology, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 27
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishleveles
- Englishleafless
From earlier leaveless, from Middle English leveles, equivalent to leaf + -less.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἄφυλλος
- ἄφυλλος (áphullos)without leaves
Arabic أَمْرَد, أَجْرَد
- أَمْرَد (ʔamrad)without leaves
- أَجْرَد (ʔajrad)without leaves
- أَمْرَط (ʔamraṭ)without leaves
Danish bladløs
- bladløswithout leaves
Dutch bladerloos, bladloos
- bladerlooswithout leaves
- bladlooswithout leaves
Esperanto senfolia
- senfoliawithout leaves
Finnish lehdetön
- lehdetönwithout leaves
French effeuillé
- effeuilléwithout leaves
German blattlos, blätterlos
- blattloswithout leaves
- blätterloswithout leaves
Greek άφυλλος
- άφυλλος (áfyllos)without leaves
Hindi अपर्ण
- अपर्ण (aparṇ)without leaves
Hungarian levéltelen, lombtalan
- levéltelenwithout leaves
- lombtalanwithout leaves
- kopárwithout leaves
Indonesian ranggas
- ranggaswithout leaves
Italian afillo
- afillowithout leaves
Latin infrons
- infronswithout leaves
Polish bezlistny
- bezlistnywithout leaves
Scottish Gaelic gun duille, gun duilleag
- gun duillewithout leaves
- gun duilleagwithout leaves
- lomwithout leaves
Spanish áfilo, afilo
- áfilowithout leaves
- afilowithout leaves
Swedish bladlös
- bladlöswithout leaves
Cite this entry
leafless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leafless
“leafless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leafless. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “leafless,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leafless.
Source: leafless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.