wordless

Wordless is an adjective describing communication or expression that occurs without words, whether spoken, written, or signed. In practice, wordless works rely on images, sounds, gestures, or other nonverbal elements to convey meaning. The term is used across fields such as film, literature, comics, music, and art, as well as in cognitive and linguistic studies of nonverbal communication.

In media and art, wordlessness often marks works that tell a story or express mood without dialogue or captions. Silent cinema and many modern visual narratives are described as wordless or near-wordless when they minimize or omit spoken language. Wordless novels, a specific 20th‑century practice, tell complex stories entirely through sequential images. Notable early practitioners include Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward, who used woodcut and engraving techniques to create narratives without text.

In literature and graphic storytelling, several celebrated works are recognized for their minimal or absent text. The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is a prominent example of a wordless picture book. Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is another well-known, largely text-free graphic work that communicates through detailed illustrations and visual symbolism.

In music and visual art, wordless compositions or performances rely on instrumental sound, gesture, or visual arrangement to evoke meaning without words. The concept also informs discussions of accessibility and universal design, where imagery and nonverbal cues are used to convey information across language barriers.

See also: silent film, wordless novel, picture book, graphic novel.