Meanings
- not comparableWithout shoes; not wearing shoes
He ran shoeless from the burning house.
1 more example
The ground about was thick sown with caltrops, which very much incommoded the shoeless Moors.
c. 1681, Lancelot Addison, The Moores baffled: being a discourse concerning TangerSynonyms: barefoot, barefooted, unshod, unshoed
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveWithout shoes; not wearing shoes
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivewithout shoes
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishsholes
- Englishshoeless
From Middle English sholes, scholes, equivalent to shoe + -less. Compare Dutch schoenloos (“shoeless”), German schuhlos (“shoeless”), Old Norse skólaus (“shoeless”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 沒有鞋子 /没有鞋子
- 沒有鞋子 /没有鞋子 (méiyǒu xiézi)without shoes
Esperanto senŝua
- senŝuawithout shoes
Finnish kengätön
- kengätönwithout shoes
Greek απαπούτσωτος
- απαπούτσωτος (apapoútsotos)without shoes
Icelandic á sokkaleistunum
- á sokkaleistunumwithout shoes
Spanish descalzo
- descalzowithout shoes
Swedish skolös, oskodd
- skolöswithout shoes
- oskoddwithout shoes
- barfotawithout shoes
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
shoeless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoeless
“shoeless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoeless. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shoeless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoeless.
Source: shoeless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.