without
prep.not having something, or not doing something. You use it when a person or thing is missing from a situation.
prep.indicating the absence, lack, or exclusion of a person, object, or action. Functions as the head of a prepositional phrase and requires a noun phrase or gerund as its complement.
“I cannot drink coffee without sugar.”
“He left the house without his keys and had to wait outside for his roommate to return.”
“The project proceeded without any significant delays, despite the initial concerns regarding the budget and the availability of specialized equipment.”
Takes a noun phrase or a gerund (-ing form) as an object. When followed by a verb, that verb must be in the gerund form.
The preposition 'without' must be followed by a gerund (-ing), not an infinitive.
From Middle English withoute, withouten, from Old English wiþūtan (literally “against the outside of”). Compare Dutch buiten (“outside of, without”), Danish uden (“without”), Swedish utan (“without”), Norwegian uten (“without”). By surface analysis, with- + out. Superseded non-native Middle English sauns, sans (“without”), from Old French sans, sanz, senz (“without”). Compare typologically Proto-Slavic bez (“without”) (<+ Proto-Indo-European h₁éǵʰs (“out”)).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.