clueless

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English clue

Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.

Proto-Germanic *leusaną

Proto-Germanic *lausaz

Proto-Germanic *-lausaz

Proto-West Germanic *-laus

Old English -lēas

Middle English -les

English -less

English clueless

From clue + -less.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkluː.ləs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: clewless
• Rhymes: -uːləs

Adjective

clueless (comparative more clueless, superlative most clueless)

1. (literally) Without any clues or hints.
   • 2010, Kathleen Newberg, Faux Finish, page 97:

     The shifting shapes mimicked the dilemma of the nearly clueless mystery of the Higgins Grove murders. As soon as the picture formed into something recognizable, it morphed into something else.

2. (figuratively) Lacking knowledge or understanding; uninformed; oblivious.

   Antonyms: clueful, informed

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:naive
• See also Thesaurus:ignorant

Derived terms

• cluelessly
• cluelessness

Translations

lacking knowledge or understanding

• Catalan: sense (ca) pista (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 無知 / 无知 (mou⁴ zi¹)

  Hokkien: 无知 (bû-ti)

  Mandarin: 无知 (zh) (wúzhī)

• Czech: bezradný m
• Dutch: onnozel (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: tietämätön (fi)
• French: ignorant (fr)
• German: ahnungslos (de), planlos (de), unbedarft (de)
• Hebrew: אוֹבֵד עֵצוֹת (he) m (ovéd 'etzót)
• Hindi: अनजान (hi) (anjān), अनभिज्ञ (hi) (anbhijña)
• Hungarian: tudatlan (hu)
• Irish: aineolach
• Italian: senza (it) idea (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: zielony (pl) m
• Portuguese: sem (pt) ideia (pt)
• Russian: неве́жественный (ru) (nevéžestvennyj)
• Spanish: en la inopia, pez (es), despistado (es), negado (es), no tener ni idea (verb), despalomado (Andes), en Babia, en nada, estar en las nubes (verb), vivir en las nubes (verb), andar por las nubes (verb)
• Swedish: aningslös (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: cahil (tr), bilgisiz (tr)
• Vietnamese: không đầu mối, không hiểu đời, không manh mối
• Welsh: di-glem (cy)

See also

• zone out