What does "nowhere" mean?

1. (in or to no place) not in any place, or not going to any place. 2. (a remote place) a place that is very far away from other houses or cities. 3. (unimportant) not important or not leading to any success.

nowhere — meaning, definition & examples

Q: Is it correct to say "I didn't go nowhere yesterday."?

No — say "I went nowhere yesterday.". In standard English, avoid using 'nowhere' with another negative word like 'didn't' because it creates a double negative.

Word

01in or to no place

A2 · Elementary

adv. not in any place, or not going to any place.

adv. in, at, or to no place; used as a negative locative adverb.

“I looked for my keys for an hour, but they were nowhere to be found.”

“The investigation led the detectives nowhere, as every potential witness claimed to have seen nothing unusual that night.”

Pitfall

I didn't go nowhere yesterday.

I went nowhere yesterday.

In standard English, avoid using 'nowhere' with another negative word like 'didn't' because it creates a double negative.

Synonyms

noplace

Antonyms

everywhere somewhere

02a remote place

B1 · Intermediate Uncountable noun

n. a place that is very far away from other houses or cities.

n. a remote, isolated, or non-existent place; frequently used in the idiomatic phrase 'middle of nowhere'.

“Their car broke down in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal.”

“The research station was located in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hundreds of miles of uninhabited tundra.”

Synonyms

wilderness isolation

03unimportant

C1 · Advanced Informal

adj. not important or not leading to any success.

adj. lacking importance, status, or a clear future; often used to describe jobs or situations with no prospects.

“He felt stuck in a nowhere job with no chance of a promotion.”

“After years of playing in nowhere towns for tiny audiences, the band finally signed a major recording contract.”

Usage

Usually placed before the noun it describes.

Synonyms

dead-end unimportant

Antonyms

promising

Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “nowhere” in context.

01. nowhere else

From Middle English nowher, from Old English nōhwēr, nāhwǣr, from nā- + hwǣr. By surface analysis, no + where. Adjective usage is taken from phrases like nowhere on the map (signifying the location was too small or too insignificant to be listed), nowhere you want to be, etc.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

anywhere everywhere somewhere