toothless

From Middle English totheles, toþeles, 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”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtuθləs/, /ˈtuθlɪs/

• Audio (Southern England)

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toothless (comparative more toothless, superlative most toothless)

1. Having no teeth.

   a toothless old man

2. (figuratively) Weak; having no ability to enforce something.

   The treaty was toothless because of the lack of participation from the undersigned.

   • 1603, Ben Jonson, The Entertainment at Althorp:

     Not tell? ha! ha! I could smile / At this old and toothless wile.

   • 2021 October 10, Caroline Anders, “A TikTok bone salesman’s wall of spines reignites ethical debate over selling human remains”, in The Washington Post‎:

     Bans 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.

• edentate
• edentulous
• teethless
• See also Thesaurus:weak

• toothlessly
• toothlessness
• toothless whale

• canine-toothless
• front-toothless

• shootlets