# without

Pronunciation: say "with-OWT" US /wɪθˈaʊt/, UK /wɪðˈaʊt/

## Preposition

1. Not having, using, or accompanied by something; not doing or having done something (followed by an -ing form).
   - Simple: Not having something, or not doing something, as in 'tea without sugar'.
   - _Coffee without sugar, please._
   - _She managed without any help._

## Adverb

2. Lacking something understood from context; going short.
   - Simple: Not having something, with the thing left unsaid, as in 'do without'.
   - _If there is no milk, I will drink it without._
   - _The poor went without so the rich could feast._

## Conjunction

5. Unless; except. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: An old or dialect word for 'unless', as in 'without you have read it'.
   - _Nobody gets in without they pay. (dialect)_
   - _I won't go without you go too. (dialect)_

## Adverb

3. Outside; externally. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Outside, in an old or poetic style.
   - _The house was grand without and cold within. (literary)_
   - _Noises came from without. (literary)_

## Preposition

4. Outside of; beyond. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Outside of, in an old or poetic style, as in 'without the walls'.
   - _The chapel stood without the gate. (literary)_
   - _None may pass without the bounds after dark. (old use)_

## Other meanings

- (adverb) In prostitution, used euphemistically to mean with no condom worn.

## Origin

Old English wiþūtan, whose literal sense was "against the outside of," became Middle English withoute or withouten. On the surface it can be split into with- and out. It took the place of sauns or sans ("without"), a non-native Middle English word that came from Old French sans.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/without (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).