lightless

L1I1G2H4T1L1E1S1S1
/ˈlaɪtlɛs/

adjective

Lacking light; unilluminated; dark.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

adjectivelightless (not comparable)
  1. not comparableLacking light; unilluminated; dark.

    Touch with thy flame the lightless lamp of my sorrow.

    1918, Rabindranath Tagore, “Lover’s Gift and Crossing”, in Crossing, New York: Macmillan, 7, p. 85
    3 more examples

    From the besieged Ardea all in post, Borne by the trustless wings of false desire, Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host, And to Collatium bears the lightless fire Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire And girdle with embracing flames the waist Of Collatine’s fair love, Lucrece the chaste.

    1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC

    "I can’t stand much of this," said Hurstwood, whose legs ached him painfully, as he sat down upon the miserable bunk in the small, lightless chamber allotted to him.

    1900, Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

    Knocked about on the wooden seat of the rackety rickety dim-lit bus, going past silent fields and past houses which were lightless and dead or bright and private, Mr Biswas no longer thought of the afternoon’s mission, but of the night ahead.

    1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 5

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivegiving no light

adjectivewithout illumination

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*leuhtalaus
  2. Old Englishlēohtlēas
  3. Middle Englishlightles
  4. Englishlightless

From Middle English lightles, from Old English lēohtlēas, from Proto-West Germanic *leuhtalaus; equivalent to light (noun) + -less (“lacking, without”). Cognate with West Frisian ljochtleas, Dutch lichtloos, German lichtlos.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ἀφεγγής
  • ἀφεγγής (aphengḗs)lacking light
Finnish valoton
  • valotonlacking light
Icelandic ljóslaus
  • ljóslauslacking light
Polish bezświetlny
  • bezświetlnylacking light
Cite this entry
APA

lightless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lightless

MLA

“lightless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lightless. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lightless,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lightless.

Source: lightless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.