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Glite Dictionary
wormless

wormless

1 9.6
Not eaten or damaged by worms and not decaying
  • adjective
  • /ˈwɜrm.ləs/
  • Literature
translation icon : libre de gusanos

Examples

  • We could have died, you wormless piece of shit.

    ThanksKilling 3 (2012)

  • The ancient manuscript, preserved in a wormless state, revealed many secrets of the past.

  • He admired the wormless fruit, believing it symbolized purity and health.

  • In the old tale, the wormless land was a paradise where nothing ever decayed.

Antonyms

decayed
1 3.9

Something like wood, teeth, or food that is soft and broken because it has rotted

corrupted
5.1

Dishonest and morally ruined because of wrong actions

How Infested

worm-eaten
1 6.2
wormy
2 6.0
wormless
  • Literature
1 9.6

Surface Forms

wormless positive

Morphology

wormless = worm (transparent) = worm + less

The meaning is directly derived from 'worm' + the productive suffix '-less' meaning 'without', yielding 'without worms'; the occasional literary extension to 'not subject to decay' is a metaphorical use but does not obscure the base formation.

Etymology

The word wormless is simply worm + -less, where worm means the small creature that eats wood or dead bodies and -less means 'without', just like in hopeless or fearless. So wormless literally means 'without worms' and is used for things that do not decay or are not eaten by worms, which is why it can mean 'not subject to decay or corruption'.