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badgeless

badgeless

1 6.3
A person who is not showing an ID card or pass
  • adjective
  • /ˈbædʒləs/
: sin insignia
  • At the conference, she felt out of place as a badgeless attendee among so many officials.

Examples

  • Without a badge, he was considered badgeless and not allowed to enter the building.

  • It was the truth, but it also concealed his badgeless status.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • A badgeless MLA being inconceivable (since much of the representational foundation would then collapse, and even drifting would become impossible since there would be no structure from which such an activity could veer), I had to get a badge in order to fit in.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The security officer stopped him for being badgeless during the event.

Antonyms

73 2.7

Clearly noticeable because of a special mark

16 2.8

Shown to be a particular person or thing

Surface Forms

badgeless positive

Morphology

badgeless = badge (transparent) = badge + less

Meaning is directly and predictably derived: 'badge' + '-less' = without a badge.

Etymology

Badgeless is made from badge and -less, where -less means 'without'. So a Badgeless person is literally 'without a badge', which is why they are often stopped for ID or given a temporary pass.