Grammar › N1 · 07 Possibility, necessity and limits

〜ことなく: without ...ing

N1 · 07 Possibility, necessity and limits

Says that something continues without a certain thing happening.

Verb dictionary form + ことなく. Written and formal. Compare 〜ないで, which is plain. Also ことなしに, which is stiffer and used similarly.

Examples

彼かれは一度いちども休やすむことなく、十じゅう年間ねんかん働はたらき続つづけた。

He kept working for ten years without taking a single break.

彼女かのじょは誰だれにも知しられることなく、静しずかに町まちを去さった。

She quietly left the town without anyone knowing.