personlessadj.
/ˈpəːsnləs/, U.S. /ˈpərs(ə)nləs/ 1. Unrecognized as a person or individual; without identity; anonymous.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > worthless > unrecognized as a person, denied individuality
personless1909
1909 E. Hill in E. Hill & O. F. Shafer Great Suffragists 11 The slaves of ancient empires..were not recognised as ‘persons’, but they built the hanging gardens of Babylon.., just as the ‘personless persons’ of to-day weave the great moral fabric of the universe.
1983 L. Thomas Youngest Sci. xx. 227 It was..like being launched personless on the assembly line of a great..factory.
1993 Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Nexis) 21 Aug. a5 The photo does not give a name to the panhandler, an unintended but ironically apt metaphor for how most of society sees those people: nameless, personless.
2. Making no distinction between persons, or between oneself and others. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > absence of prejudice > [adjective]
unpossesseda1586
affectionless1595
respectless1598
unprejudicating1602
spacious1609
unprejudicate1609
unprejudicated1609
undifferencing?1624
unprepossessed1629
imprejudicate1640
unprejudiced1641
unprejudicial1641
unpreoccupated1641
unsuperstitious1652
moderate1654
unforestalled1657
unengaged1659
equipondious1661
uncaptivated1678
unbiased1686
unbigoted1711
Whiggish1715
open-minded1748
progressive1780
liberal1781
prejudiceless1830
broad1832
great-eyed1850
synoptic1852
undogmatic1857
undogmatical1863
superstitionless1879
race-blind1900
personless1932
verlig1968
1932 H. Walpole Fortress iv. ii. 607 He was by temperament intensely cautious and by training suspicious, and, mingled with these two strains, there was an odd element of personless, rather noble philanthropy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1909