utan

Definition & meaning

utan has several related meanings:

1. Without — indicates that something is absent or not used.
   Kaffe utan mjölk means “coffee without milk.”
   Swedish phrase: ↗

2. But rather / but instead — commonly used after a negation to correct or replace an idea.
   Inte på måndag, utan på tisdag means “Not on Monday, but on Tuesday.”
   Swedish phrase: ↗

3. Without doing something — in the construction utan att followed by a verb.
   Hon gick utan att säga något means “She left without saying anything.”
   Swedish phrase: ↗

Grammar & Word origin

Utan can function as a preposition, as in utan mjölk (“without milk”), or as a conjunction in contrasts such as inte X utan Y (“not X but Y”). In utan att, it introduces an action that does not take place.

The word comes from Old Swedish utan, historically meaning “outside” or “from outside.” Its older form is related to ut (“out”), though utan is not normally divided into parts in modern Swedish.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms depend on the meaning:

• ↗ means “free from” and emphasizes being unaffected by or not having something. It does not work in every sentence where utan means “without.”
• ↗ means “in the absence of” and is more formal.
• ↗ means “except” or “apart from,” and is often used to name an exception.
• ↗ means “but” more generally. Unlike utan, it does not usually introduce the replacement in the pattern “not X, but Y.”

For the “without” meaning, the main antonym is ↗ (“with”). In the sense of excluding something, ↗ (“including”) can be an opposite, depending on the context.

Common phrases & collocations

• ↗ — “without doubt”
• ↗ — “without a problem”
• ↗ — “without further ado” or “without more”
• ↗ — “without hesitating”