nowhere

adverb no·where \ ˈnō-ˌ(h)wer , -(h)wər \

Updated on: 11 Apr 2018

Definition of nowhere

1 : not in or at any place

The book is nowhere to be found.

2 : to no place

I've gotten nowhere with my research.

Arguing will get us nowhere.

3 : not at all : not to the least extent —usually used with near

nowhere near as serious

nowhere near enough

See nowhere defined for English-language learners

See nowhere defined for kids

Examples of nowhere in a Sentence

I have nowhere to go.
Nowhere is there more of a population problem than in this city.

Recent Examples of nowhere from the Web

Royal Caribbean has been at the forefront of an evolution in cruise ship entertainment in recent years, and nowhere is that more evident than on Symphony, which boasts an adaptation of one of Broadway's biggest crowd-pleasers: The musical Hairspray.

— gene sloan, USA TODAY, "Five things to love about Royal Caribbean's new Symphony of the Seas," 4 Apr. 2018
The world is warming, and nowhere is this more evident than in the melting Arctic.

— david hambling, Popular Mechanics, "Does the U.S. Stand a Chance Against Russia's Icebreakers?," 4 Apr. 2018
The last time its reliance on foreign funding was so high, cash was cheap, inflation in the U.S. was nowhere to be seen, and a global trade war wasn’t weighing on investor sentiment.

— Bloomberg.com, "Turkey Overheating Means Race Against Time for Erdogan," 3 Apr. 2018
More new homes planned for downtown What’s old is new again, and nowhere is that more evident than in the historic neighborhoods in downtown Mansfield.

— nicholas sakelaris, star-telegram, "What's that gonna be: Mansfield's Shops at Broad project grows, including StarCenter | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 2 Apr. 2018
Though her siblings were reportedly recovered following Amanda’s arrest, Mariah was nowhere to be found.

— chris harris, PEOPLE.com, "Missing 9-Year-Old Girl Found Safe and With 'Extended Family' After Tip From Reality TV: Police," 30 Mar. 2018
View Photos The Versa is built to transport people, not entertain them; driver engagement is nowhere to be found.

— Car and Driver, "2018 Nissan Versa," 29 Mar. 2018
When Michigan basketball was nowhere near a state of national relevancy.

— nick baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "Final Four: Michigan basketball's program builders beam with pride," 28 Mar. 2018
And nowhere was this restraint more noticeable than in Washington, which endured the worst rioting in America after the assassination.

— paul duggan, Washington Post, "After bloodshed in earlier U.S. riots, D.C. police showed restraint in 1968 unrest," 26 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nowhere.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of nowhere

before 12th century

nowhere

noun

Definition of nowhere

1 : a nonexistent place

2 : an unknown, distant, or obscure place or state

rose to fame out of nowhere

— miles from nowhere

: in an extremely remote place

See nowhere defined for English-language learners

Examples of nowhere in a Sentence

from the looks of things, we're stranded in nowhere and most likely its proverbial middle
in a few short years he rose out of nowhere to prominence in the dot-com world

Recent Examples of nowhere from the Web

Like a lot of out-of-nowhere box office hits, some of the revenue went up in smoke.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "Tommy Chong: 'The whole reason for making marijuana illegal was to prosecute black and brown people'," 5 Apr. 2018
USA TODAY Sports Case Keenum, who is coming off a magical, out-of-nowhere season with the Minnesota Vikings, is about to become the Denver Broncos’ new quarterback.

— mike klis, USA TODAY, "Case Keenum to sign with Broncos when free agency opens," 13 Mar. 2018
Zuckerberg and Sandberg, on the other hand, were at first nowhere to be found, dispatching instead their vice president and deputy general counsel to address employees after days of public outrage.

— jeffrey sonnenfeld, Fortune, "Commentary: 5 Questions Facebook’s Leaders Still Need to Face," 23 Mar. 2018
There was nowhere to go but up from there, but things didn't get much better.

— joseph goodman, AL.com, "Alabama will be better without Collin Sexton," 17 Mar. 2018
His Stanhope is a study in coiled energy with nowhere to go.

— joe morgenstern, WSJ, "‘Journey’s End’ Review: A Small Beauty About the Great War," 15 Mar. 2018
In fact, nowhere is the curse of modern-day overload more evident than in travel.

— Condé Nast Traveler, "We Go There: Welcome to the New Condé Nast Traveler," 7 Mar. 2018
The skinny: There was nowhere to go but up, and that’s pretty much where Schwartz went: Nowhere.

— ryan ford, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Lions coaches haven't often excelled in their first seasons," 7 Jan. 2018
There was no more out-of-nowhere player last season than Taylor.

— michael beller, SI.com, "Second Base Primer: Jose Altuve and a Whole Lot More," 14 Feb. 2018

First Known Use of nowhere

15th century

nowhere Synonyms

nowhere

adjective

Definition of nowhere

: of or relating to a remote or relatively unknown location

a nowhere town

Recent Examples of nowhere from the Web

The Flyers were outplayed, outshot, and outworked in the first period — against a going-nowhere team that had lost 10 straight — and fortunate to be in a scoreless tie after 20 minutes.

— sam carchidi, Philly.com, "Flyers must end poor starts if they hope to make the playoffs," 21 Mar. 2018
Cincinnati took an awkward drive to a nowhere layup.

— chuck culpepper, chicagotribune.com, "Nevada is the unkillable zombie of the NCAA tournament's haunted graveyard region," 18 Mar. 2018
The going-nowhere Senators, who are 15th in the 16-team Eastern Conference, appeared to tie the score at 2-2 when Zack Smith deposited a rebound with 7:44 left in the second.

— sam carchidi, Philly.com, "Soaring Flyers move into first-place tie (temporarily) as they whip Ottawa," 24 Feb. 2018
My drink is warm, my attitude is cold and my friend is literally nowhere to be found.

— laura delarato /, NBC News, "I stopped saying 'yes' to everyone, and it changed my life," 21 Feb. 2018
But there’s nothing wrong with hope and optimism, especially here. Especially after seven long years of going-nowhere offenses and a perpetually-spinning QB turnstile.

— ryan young, ajc, "Dan Mullen scores first major win of Florida tenure with recruiting coup of QB Emory Jones," 20 Dec. 2017
Although a sand pile was nowhere to be seen at the location, two women present used plastic, empty butter containers to scoop up plots of dirt under the overpass for their white sandbags.

— wilborn p. nobles iii, NOLA.com, "New Orleanians prepare for Harvey, stocking up on sandbags and supplies," 25 Aug. 2017
Jeff Masters, Weather Underground's meteorology director, said this could cause a collision of high water with nowhere to go.

— Bloomberg.com, "URGENT: The Latest: Hurricane Harvey Strengthens to Category 4," 25 Aug. 2017
Of course, this fantasy 30-year-old’s student loans are long gone, and credit-card debt is nowhere to be seen.

— charlotte cowles, The Cut, "How Much Money Should I Have by the Time I’m 30?," 24 Aug. 2017

First Known Use of nowhere

1889

NOWHERE Defined for English Language Learners

nowhere

adverb

Definition of nowhere for English Language Learners

: not in or at any place

nowhere

noun

Definition of nowhere for English Language Learners

: no place

NOWHERE Defined for Kids

nowhere

adverb no·where \ ˈnō-ˌhwer , -ˌwer \

Definition of nowhere for Students

1 : not in or at any place

The book is nowhere to be found.

2 : to no place

We've gone nowhere all week.

3 : not at all

That's nowhere near enough.

nowhere

noun

Definition of nowhere for Students

: a place that does not exist

The sound seems to be coming from nowhere.

Learn More about nowhere

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nowhere

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