əˈnänəməs also (ˈ)a|n- adjective
Etymology: Late Latin anonymus, from Greek anōnymos, from an- + onoma name — more at name
1. : having or giving no name : of a name or with the name unknown or unrevealed : nameless
an anonymous author
giant corporations responsible to distant anonymous owners
the perfect type of the anonymous assistant
the anonymous mass of mankind
2.
a. : of unknown or unnamed source or origin (as authorship, donorship, workmanship)
an anonymous book
anonymous furniture
an anonymous gift
a bottle of imported but anonymous claret
b. of a coin or token : bearing no indication (as name or insignia) of the issuer
3. : not having or not imparting a sense of clearly marked individuality or personality : producing an effect of being without name or identity
a sea of anonymous faces
a district of brown anonymous houses — Sinclair Lewis
its characters are both static and lifeless; they have names but they remain anonymous — Bernard De Voto
an anonymous fear, the fear of forces rather than of men — Roger Burlingame
4. : reported without the names of the persons involved
• anon·y·mous·ly adverb
• anon·y·mous·ness noun -es