Etymology From Middle English nameles, equivalent to name + -less. Cognate with Dutch naamloos (“nameless”), German namenlos (“nameless”), Danish navnløs (“nameless”), Swedish namnlös (“nameless”), Icelandic nafnlaus (“nameless, anonymous”).
1
Not having a name.
Environmental DNA analysis suggests that the number of species of bacteria that remain nameless to date may well be on the order of many thousands.
2
Whose name is unknown; unidentified or obscured.
The culprits shall remain nameless here, as some names have been changed to protect the guilty; just don't let it happen again.
Victims of rug pulls are often left with little recourse against nameless thieves.2022 March 2, David Yaffe-Bellany, “Millions for Crypto Start-Ups, No Real Names Necessary”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2022:
3
Unable to be described or expressed.
a nameless unease
a nameless fear
1 more example
Minute grew into minute, and still there was no sign of life, nor did the curtain move; but I felt the gaze of the unknown being sinking through and through me, and filling me with a nameless terror, till the perspiration stood in beads upon my brow.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Plain of Kôr”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 126:
He said that he would cherish her until the grave, and that he would love her nameless son as though he were his own flesh.1953, James Baldwin, “Elizabeth’s Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Co., published October 1970, →OCLC, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints), page 175:
5
Not well-known; not having made a name for oneself.
Nameless and fameless, but tinged with the sadness Rising from organs by seraph hands played.1886, Horace Eaton Walker, “Harp of my Country”, in The Lady of Dardale and Other Poems, Manchester, N.H.: Browne & Rowe, page 181:
Its upland-lawns, and cliffs with foliage hung, Its wizard-stream, nor nameless, nor unsung:1890, Samuel Rogers, “An Epistle to a Friend”, in Poems by Samuel Rogers, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 74:
Etymology From Middle English nameles, equivalent to name + -less. Cognate with Dutch naamloos (“nameless”), German namenlos (“nameless”), Danish navnløs (“nameless”), Swedish namnlös (“nameless”), Icelandic nafnlaus (“nameless, anonymous”).