From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishanonymousa‧non‧y‧mous /əˈnɒnɪməs $ əˈnɑː-/ ●○○ adjective 1 NAME OF A PERSONunknown by name the anonymous author of a collection of poemsanonymous donor/benefactor the anonymous donor of a large sum of money According to one employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, the company engaged in illegal activities.2 NOT KNOWdone, sent, or given by someone who does not want their name to be known an anonymous donation of $5,000anonymous phone call/letter etc (=one that is often unpleasant or contains threats)3 writtenINTERESTING uninteresting in features or qualities – used to show disapproval grey, anonymous housing estates —anonymously adverb
Examples from the Corpus
anonymous• The college received an anonymous $5 million gift.• The writer of the poem is anonymous.• Given the possibility of an anonymous bidder, these things may remain a mystery.• King James replied to the Pope in an anonymous book which, in turn, was answered by Cardinal Bellarmine.• The Border Patrol received an anonymous call one night about drug activity in the area.• $50,000 has been given to the charity by an anonymous donor from Utah.• an anonymous hotel room• I received anonymous phone calls warning me not to go to the police about what I'd seen.• Both anonymous respondents claimed that both events had had no impact whatsoever on their recruiting.• One source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that he had seen the woman go into his room.• Further, he had agreed never to quote the man, even as an anonymous source.• The paper cited two anonymous sources.• Although they are anonymous subjects of the camera, their singularity is often stressed and their individual gestures carefully recorded.remain anonymous• In keeping with the Thunderer's tradition, the foreign correspondent remained anonymous.• No wonder he chooses to remain anonymous.• Some of the money was put up by a pensioner who wishes to remain anonymous.• The man and the children remained anonymous.• A member of the office staff, who asked to remain anonymous , gave us the information.• Our client, who prefers to remain anonymous, is considering incorporating cruises into his contract.• She remains anonymous throughout, unable to answer, allowing Marlowe to continue to revel in his fantasy.anonymous phone call/letter etc• He was too eager to get back to his roll to ask how Zen had found out about the anonymous phone call.• Twenty-four hours later you make an anonymous phone call.• And there was also the matter of the anonymous phone call, pointing the finger squarely at Amanda.Origin anonymous (1600-1700) Late Latin anonymus, from Greek, from an- “without” + onyma “name” 