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# toothless

adjective (toothless)

«toothless» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Toothless means having no teeth, or having lost teeth: a toothless baby, a toothless grin. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#m1)
2. Toothless also means having no real power to make people obey: a toothless law, a toothless rule that no one enforces. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#m2)
3. Toothless can also mean feeble or useless, as an insult. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#m3)

### In the lessons

In everyday life babies and some old people are toothless, and children have gappy, toothless grins when baby teeth fall out. In news and citizenship lessons, a "toothless" rule, watchdog or body has no power to punish. In "How to Train Your Dragon", Toothless is the name of the dragon (he can pull in his teeth). Phrases: "toothless grin", "toothless law", "toothless watchdog".

### Examples

- The baby gave us a big toothless smile. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x1)
- After losing two front teeth, my brother had a toothless grin. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x2)
- Grandpa takes out his false teeth and looks toothless. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x3)
- Without fines, the new rule is toothless. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x4)
- Critics called the committee a toothless watchdog. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x5)
- In the film, Toothless is a black Night Fury dragon. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x6)
- Some whales are toothless and filter food instead. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x7)
- What have we to do with this toothless fool? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/#x8)

### Note

Formed from tooth + less ("without"). A law with "teeth" is one that can punish; a toothless law cannot. As a name (Toothless the dragon) it has a capital T.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «toothless» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/toothless/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«toothless» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/toothless.html) on Mova free.