Meanings
comparative more toothless · superlative most toothless
- Having no teeth.
a toothless old man
1 more example
She goes on to explain the difficulty she's having getting visas for Lawrence and for Robert, the 14-year-old who is her older brother and is, amazingly, the last child of the toothless tiny woman who buzzes around us. (I find out later that she is only in her mid-fifties.)
1983 December 24, Andrea Loewenstein, “"What's Freedom Without Food In Your Stomach?" -- A Trip to Haiti”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 23, page 8Synonyms: edentate, edentulous, teethless · Antonyms: dentate, dentiferous, dentigerous, dentulous, toothed, toothy
- figurativelyWeak; having no ability to enforce something.
The treaty was toothless because of the lack of participation from the undersigned.
3 more examples
Not tell? Ha! ha! I could ſmile, / At this old, and toothleſſe vvile.
1603 July 5 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), B[en] Jon[son], “A Particular Entertainment of the Queene and Prince Their Highnesse to Althrope, at the Right Honourable the Lord Spencers, on Saterday being the 25. of Iune 1603. as They Came First into the Kingdome; […]”, in B. Jon: His Part of King James His Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through His Honorable Cittie of London, Thurseday the 15. of March. 1603. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] [and George Eld] for Edward Blount, published 1604, →OCLC, page 7Bans of the sale of human remains across platforms like Facebook, Etsy, Instagram and eBay are toothless and poorly enforced, Huffer said. And when a page does get shut down, he said, it just pops up on a different website.
2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 17 Oct 2021The glut of moronic, Roganesque dude-bro podcasts are long overdue for mocking, but this one is toothless.
2024 November 17, Zach Vasquez, “Saturday Night Live: Charli xcx has fun in otherwise middle of the road episode”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Dec 2024Synonyms: tame, anemic, breakable, broken-down, damaged, debilitated, decrepit, delicate
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving no teeth.
adjectiveWeak; having no ability to enforce something.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivelacking necessary force for effectiveness
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*tanþlausaz“toothless”
- Old Englishtōþlēas
- Middle Englishtothles
- Englishtoothless
From Middle English tothles, from Old English tōþlēas, from Proto-Germanic *tanþlausaz (“toothless”), equivalent to tooth + -less. Cognate with Dutch tandeloos (“toothless”), German Low German tannlos (“toothless”), German zahnlos (“toothless”), Danish tandløs (“toothless”), Swedish tandlös (“toothless”), Icelandic tannlaus (“toothless”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek νωδός
- νωδός (nōdós)Having no teeth
Bulgarian беззъб, беззъб
- беззъб (bezzăb)Having no teeth
- беззъб (bezzăb)Being weak
Catalan esqueixalat, desdentat
- esqueixalatHaving no teeth
- desdentatHaving no teeth
Czech bezzubý, bezzubý
- bezzubýHaving no teeth
- bezzubýBeing weak
Danish tandløs
- tandløsHaving no teeth
Dutch tandloos
- tandloosHaving no teeth
Finnish hampaaton, hampaaton
- hampaatonHaving no teeth
- hampaatonBeing weak
French édenté
- édentéHaving no teeth
German zahnlos
- zahnlosHaving no teeth
Greek άδοντος, φαφούτης
- άδοντος (ádontos)Having no teeth
- φαφούτης (fafoútis)Having no teeth
- ξεδοντιάρης (xedontiáris)Having no teeth
- ξεδοντιάρης (xedontiáris)Being weak
Hindi पोपला
- पोपला (poplā)Having no teeth
Hungarian fogatlan
- fogatlanHaving no teeth
Icelandic tannlaus
- tannlausHaving no teeth
Irish carballach, mantach
- carballachHaving no teeth
- mantachHaving no teeth
Italian sdentato, inefficace
- sdentatoHaving no teeth
- inefficaceBeing weak
- impotenteBeing weak
Latin ēdentulus
- ēdentulusHaving no teeth
Latvian bezzobains
- bezzobainsHaving no teeth
Lithuanian bedantis
- bedantisHaving no teeth
Māori niho more, niho ngore
- niho moreHaving no teeth
- niho ngoreHaving no teeth
Norwegian Bokmål tannløs, tannlaus
- tannløsHaving no teeth
- tannlausHaving no teeth
- tannløsBeing weak
- tannlausBeing weak
Persian بیدندان
- بیدندان (bīdandān)Having no teeth
Polish bezzębny, bezzęby
- bezzębnyHaving no teeth
- bezzębyHaving no teeth
Portuguese banguelo, desdentado
- bangueloHaving no teeth
- desdentadoHaving no teeth
Romanian știrb, edentat
- știrbHaving no teeth
- edentatHaving no teeth
Russian беззу́бый, беззу́бый
- беззу́бый (bezzúbyj)Having no teeth
- беззу́бый (bezzúbyj)Being weak
Spanish desdentado, edéntulo
- desdentadoHaving no teeth
- edéntuloHaving no teeth
- dijustoHaving no teeth
- sholcoHaving no teeth
- janicheHaving no teeth
- melladoHaving no teeth
- janichoHaving no teeth
Swedish tandlös, tandlös
- tandlösHaving no teeth
- tandlösBeing weak
Tagalog ngubngob
- ngubngobHaving no teeth
Turkish dişsiz
- dişsizHaving no teeth
Ukrainian беззу́бий, беззу́бий
- беззу́бий (bezzúbyj)Having no teeth
- беззу́бий (bezzúbyj)Being weak
Vietnamese móm
- mómHaving no teeth
Cite this entry
toothless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toothless
“toothless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toothless. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toothless,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toothless.
Source: toothless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.