anybody
anybody Lexical Profile
anybody Game Scores & Validity
• pronoun
Any person at all; used in questions, conditional clauses, and negative statements to refer to an unspecified individual.
"Did anybody remember to lock the main entrance before leaving the building?"
Any person indiscriminately; whosoever or whichever person.
"The introductory workshop is open to anybody who wishes to learn basic woodworking skills."
• noun
A person of notable importance, influence, or social standing.
"In that small industry town, everybody who was anybody attended the annual charity gala."
Word Nuance & Usage
Wait to distinguish between the single-word pronoun 'anybody' (meaning any person) and the two-word phrase 'any body' (referring to a physical body, corpse, or formal group, as in 'any body of water'). While 'anybody' and 'anyone' are completely interchangeable in meaning, 'anybody' is slightly more informal and conversational.
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Middle English during the 13th century as a compound of 'any' and 'body' (used in the older sense of a person or human being), originally written as two separate words before coalescing into a single pronoun.