anonymous

adjective

anon·​y·​mous ə-ˈnä-nə-məs 

1

: of unknown authorship or origin

an anonymous tip

2

: not named or identified

an anonymous author

They wish to remain anonymous.

3

: lacking individuality, distinction, or recognizability

the anonymous faces in the crowd

… the gray anonymous streets …

—William Styron

anonymousness noun

Synonyms of anonymous

• one
• unnamed

Examples of anonymous in a Sentence

The donor wishes to remain anonymous.

An anonymous buyer purchased the painting.

The college received an anonymous gift.

He made an anonymous phone call to the police.

The reporter got an anonymous tip.

His was just another anonymous face in the crowd.

Recent Examples on the Web

If anonymous people are able to lodge complaints against ICE agents and send in photos and videos, how can the agents fight the accusations? —Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 19 Mar. 2026

An anonymous donor who has given the Washington County Library system more than $500,000 over the past 20 years has sent another $30,000 check. —Mary Divine, Twin Cities, 18 Mar. 2026

His heroes aren’t athletes or movie stars but anonymous Twitter accounts—anime avatars and pseudonyms with cryptic bios—whose followers track their trades with devotional intensity. —Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026

Several have successfully leveraged a gap in campaign finance rules to keep their funders anonymous until after the primary. —David Hickey, NBC news, 17 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Late Latin anōnymos, anōnymus "lacking a name" (borrowed from Greek anṓnymos "lacking a name, unnamed, not well-known or remembered," from an- an- + -ōnymos, derivative in adjectival compounds of ónoma, Doric and Aeolic dialects ónyma "name") + -ous — more at name entry 1

First Known Use

1625, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for anonymous

• autonomous
• economise
• eponymous
• synonymous

Kids Definition

anonymous

adjective

anon·​y·​mous ə-ˈnän-ə-məs 

1

: not named or identified

the donor remained anonymous

2

: made or done by someone unknown

anonymous gifts

an anonymous poem

anonymously adverb

anonymousness noun

Etymology

from Latin anonymus "anonymous," from Greek anonymos (same meaning), from an-, a- "not, without" and onyma, onoma "name" — related to synonymous