Wiktionary

nowhere

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English nowher, from Old English nōhwēr, nāhwǣr, from nā- + hwǣr. By surface analysis, no +‎ where.

Adjective usage is taken from phrases like nowhere on the map (signifying the location was too small or too insignificant to be listed), nowhere you want to be, etc.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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nowhere (not comparable)

  1. In no place.
    Nowhere did the rules say anything about popcorn.
    The keys are nowhere in the house.
  2. To no place.
    We sat in traffic, going nowhere.

Translations

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Adjective

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nowhere (not comparable)

  1. Unimportant; unworthy of notice.
    • 1872, “Reviews of Postal Publications”, in The Stamp-Collector's Magazine, volume 10, page 110:
      As a foreign stamp gazette it is nowhere. An article on Stamp Collecting, by J. E. Gray, “reprinted from one of his books,” and a catalogue of stamps constitute its sole attraction. We are surprised to find such sounding pretentions so poorly supported.
    • 2008, Cricket Sawyer, Lavender Lust, →ISBN, page 180:
      Elinore was such a bitch, such a nowhere person.
    • 2012, Nicholas Borelli, Let No Man Be My Albatross, →ISBN, page 247:
      He always allowed them to motivate him to a level of intensity to do better, rather than remain in a nowhere life in a nowhere place like Harlem.

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Noun

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nowhere (plural nowheres)

  1. No particular place, noplace.
    They went on a cruise to nowhere.
    • 1912, Charles Inge, “Nemesis or Bad Luck?”, in The Windsor magazine, volume 36, page 95:
      While they paced the platform of the station, they reviewed the career of misdemeanours—Nutley, Chiddiugstone, Midhurst, Penn, and many nowheres, and now Aylesbury.
    • 1976, “The Gambler”, Don Schlitz (lyrics):
      On a warm summer's evening On a train bound for nowhere I met up with the gambler
    • 1996 Oct, Indianapolis Monthly, volume 20, number 2, page 115:
      Oh, not the middle of nowhere like the rest of Indiana, but a nowhere so flat and ugly you want to lie down in a ditch and never get up again.
    • 2005, Dave Finkelstein with Jack London and Philip Caputo, Greater Nowheres: Wanderings Across the Outback, page xxiv:
      But some Nowheres do still exist and are there to be found by any genuinely free spirit willing to hook a caravan behind his four-wheel-drive and dream, say, of finding that isolated campsite beside an as yet undiscovered waterhole

Derived terms

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See also

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Anagrams

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