toothless

/'tu:θlis/

Thân thiện

A baby smiles, revealing a toothless grin.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Lacking teeth: Describes a person, animal, or creature that has no teeth.
   • Ineffective, lacking power or force: Describes something (like a law, policy, or threat) that is weak and unable to achieve its intended effect because it lacks enforcement or "bite."

Usage

• The primary meaning is literal, referring to the physical absence of teeth.
• The figurative meaning is common in political, legal, and social contexts to criticize something as weak or ineffectual.

Examples

• Literal meaning (lacking teeth):
  • The baby smiled a wide, toothless grin.
  • Turtles and anteaters are examples of toothless animals.
• Figurative meaning (ineffective):
  • Without proper funding, the new environmental regulations are toothless.
  • The watchdog committee was criticized as a toothless organization with no real authority.

Advanced Usage

• "Toothless wonder": A humorous or affectionate term for someone, especially a baby or an elderly person, who has no teeth.
  • Look at our little toothless wonder trying to eat an apple!
• Used to describe abstract concepts like "toothless rhetoric," "toothless promises," or "toothless opposition," emphasizing their lack of real impact.

Variants and Related Words

• Toothlessly (adverb): In a toothless or ineffective manner.
  • The law was toothlessly enforced.
• Toothlessness (noun): The state or quality of being toothless.
  • The toothlessness of the agreement became apparent immediately.

Synonyms

• Literal: Edentulous (formal/medical), gumming.
• Figurative: Powerless, ineffective, impotent, weak, ineffectual, feeble.

Antonyms

• Literal: Toothed, dentate.
• Figurative: Powerful, effective, strong, potent, forceful.

Idioms and Phrases

• A toothless tiger/lion/dog: A common metaphor for a person, group, or law that appears threatening or powerful but is actually harmless and ineffective.
  • The regulatory agency was nothing more than a toothless tiger.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. lacking necessary force for effectiveness
   • a toothless piece of legislation
2. lacking teeth
   • most birds are toothless
   • a toothless old crone