nobody
See also: no body
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English nobody, no-body, no body. By surface analysis, no (“none, not any”, adjective) + body (“one, person, individual”).
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈnəʊ.bə.di/, /ˈnəʊ.bɒd.i/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈnoʊ.bə.di/, /ˈnoʊˌbʌd.i/, /ˈnoʊ.bɑ.di/
Audio (US) (file)
Pronoun edit
nobody
- Not any person; the logical negation of somebody.
- I asked several people, but nobody knew how.
- As nobody who is not blind can have failed to notice, I had my hair cut just yesterday.
Usage notes edit
- Nobody has a lower degree of formality than no one, but is still standard and is unremarkable in more formal contexts.
- See more at no one
Synonyms edit
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
- it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good
- like it's nobody's business
- like nobody's business
- like nobody's watching
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American people
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American public
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people
- nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public
- nobody's fool
- nobody's perfect
- on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog
- the lights are on but nobody's home
Related terms edit
Translations edit
not any person; the logical negation of somebody — see no one
Noun edit
nobody (plural nobodies)
- Someone who is not important or well-known.
- 1835, Charlotte Brontë, chapter XXVII, in Villette[1]:
- “‘The nobody you once thought me!’ I repeated, and my face grew a little hot; but I would not be angry: of what importance was a school-girl’s crude use of the terms nobody and somebody?”
- Something that has no body or an especially small one.
Derived terms edit
- nobody crab, no-body crab (Pycnogonida spp.)
Related terms edit
Translations edit
unimportant person
|
References edit
- “nobody”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.