different between trackless vs pathless

English

Etymology

track +? -less

Adjective

trackless

1. Not having tracks or paths; untrodden.
   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Bride, Act 1, Dramas 3, page 296

     Solitude in trackless deserts,

     Where locusts, ants, and lizards poorly thrive,

   • 1987, Toni Morrison, Beloved

     "You got two feet, Sethe, not four," he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; trackless and quiet.

   • 2015, Ann Leckie, Ancillary Mercy

     It had probably at one point been meant for servants to use to go unobtrusively back and forth, but hadn't been used in years; the floor was dusty and trackless.

2. Not following a track.
   • 1838, Eliza Cook, The Waters

     What was it that I loved so well about my childhood's home? / It was the wide and wave-lashed shore, the black rocks crowned with foam! / It was the sea-gull's flapping wing, all trackless in its flight, / Its screaming note, that welcomed on the fierce and stormy night!

3. (of a train etc.) Not running on tracks.

   trackless trolley

Derived terms

• tracklessly
• tracklessness

Translations

English

Etymology

path +? -less

Adjective

pathless (comparative more pathless, superlative most pathless)

1. Without a path or trail.
2. (figuratively) Unexplored.

   Synonyms: trackless, uncharted, unknown, virgin

Derived terms

• pathlessness

Translations

Anagrams

• plashets