Word.ws English Dictionary

without so much as a by your leave

without so much as a by your leave prepositional phrase: omitting the social niceties, especially that of asking permission.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (dated) Omitting the social niceties, especially that of asking permission.
    • "What now," he said, "have the King's men respect neither for piety nor age that they burst in upon the seclusion of a holy man without so much as a 'by your leave' ?"1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Outlaw of Torn
    • You just slam the fucking door without so much as a by your leave.2013, Strom Thurmond, A History of the African-American People

Forms of without so much as a by your leave

alternative formwithout so much as a by-your-leave
alternative formwithout a by your leave
alternative formwithout a by-your-leave

Questions about without so much as a by your leave

What does without so much as a by your leave mean?
Without so much as a by your leave means omitting the social niceties, especially that of asking permission.
What part of speech is without so much as a by your leave?
Without so much as a by your leave is a prepositional phrase.

Words near without so much as a by your leave in the dictionary

  1. without number
  2. without prejudice
  3. without price
  4. without question
  5. without recourse
  6. without so much as a by your leave
  7. without so much as a by-your-leave
  8. without tea and biscuits
  9. without tears
  10. without trace
  11. without troubling the scorers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: without so much as a by your leave (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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