imageless

English

Etymology

From image +‎ -less.

Adjective

imageless (not comparable)

1. Lacking an image.
   • 1874, William Ware, Aurelian‎:

     Ever since Hadrian--otherwise a patriot king--built his imageless temples, in imitation of this barren and lifeless worship; ever since the weak Alexander and his superstitious mother filled the imperial palace with their statues of Christ, with preachers and teachers of his religion; ever since the Philips openly and without shame professed his faith; ever, I say, since these great examples have been before the world, has the ancient religion declined its head, and the new stalked proudly by.

   • 1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Sleep and Dreams”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 253:

     Other dream-fears, or strong dream-impressions, may be almost imageless. There may be a great terror, for example, of a purely geometric figure—a figure from pure geometry, or an example of pure mathematics.

   • 1989 June 2, Fred Camper, “Andy Warhol: A Long, Close Look”, in Chicago Reader‎:

     In this diptych, a grid of 15 blue-and-black electric-chair images occupies the left panel, while the right panel is imageless, filled with the same shade of blue used in the left.

2. (obsolete) Unimaginable.
   • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:

     Blessings that are imageless to all mortal fancyings, these shall be thine for this.

Derived terms

• imagelessness