🌫️ Without support ⛵ Not secured 🎤 No main presenter

anchorless

1 6.5

Not held in place by an anchor, like a boat

adjective
/ˈæŋkərləs/

: sin ancla

The balloon drifted anchorless into the sky, carried by the wind.

Examples

After losing his job, he felt anchorless and unsure of his next steps.
The small boat floated anchorless in the middle of the lake.
The ship was left anchorless in the storm.
Without a clear plan, we felt anchorless in the project.
The boat drifted aimlessly in the ocean, completely anchorless as the storm raged on.
Without the anchor, the ship was left anchorless and vulnerable to the powerful currents.
As she floated on her raft, she realized she was anchorless in the vast sea, with no land in sight.

Synonyms

unmoored

vsanchorless

3 7.0

Not held in place and often feels unstable or uncertain

emphasizes absence of a securing thing rather than the resulting free movement

unanchored

vsanchorless

6.4

Not attached or held in place so it can move

is about lacking any thing that keeps something in place or secure

unsecure

vsanchorless

4.4

Not firmly fixed and likely to come loose

names the simple absence of something that would hold it securely

unpinned

vsanchorless

4.1

Not held in place with a pin and able to fall or move

refers to missing a general securing item rather than a specific pin

Antonyms

secure

86 3.3

Firmly fixed so it will not move or break

How Anchored

tethered

5.1

anchorless

1 6.5

Surface Forms

anchorless positive

Morphology

anchorless = anchor (transparent) = anchor + less

This is a direct, literal formation meaning 'without an anchor', which learners can derive from the components.

Etymology

Anchorless comes from anchor, the heavy 'hook' that holds a boat in one place, so a boat without that tool can drift. That's why anchorless can mean not having anything to keep something safe or in position.