nullification

American  

[nuhl-uh-fi-key-shuhn] / ˌnʌl ə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of nullifying.

2. the state of being nullified.

3. the failure or refusal of a U.S. state to aid in enforcement of federal laws within its limits, especially on Constitutional grounds.

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nullification Cultural  

1. The doctrine that states can set aside federal laws. Urged in the late 1820s by John C. Calhoun, nullification precipitated a crisis between Calhoun and President Andrew Jackson. The doctrine was foreshadowed by Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Kentucky Resolutions. (See Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• renullification
  noun
• nullificationist
  noun
• nullificator
  noun
• nonnullification
  noun

Etymology

Origin of nullification

First recorded in 1620–30; from Late Latin nūllificātiōn- (stem of nūllificātiō ) “contempt,” equivalent to nūllificāt(us) (past participle of nūllificāre “to despise, contemn”) + -iōn- -ion; see nullify

Explanation

Nullification is the act of cancelling something. Counteracting the effects of a snakebite with an antidote could be described as nullification, for example. Use the noun nullification when one thing overcomes or overrides another, basically erasing the effects of the first thing. Nullification of a newly passed law would occur if the law turned out to be impossible to enforce. The word is most often used in a political sense, in fact, and was first used this way by Thomas Jefferson in 1798. The Latin root is nullificationem, "a making as nothing," from nullus, "not any."

Example Sentences

Nullification does not undo the trauma of arrest, enmeshed penalties of a pending prosecution, or the months, if not years, spent in pretrial incarceration, isolated from homes, jobs, and families.

From Slate • Aug. 4, 2022

Jackson was fiercely opposed to division within the country and went to great lengths to keep South Carolina from seceding during the Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833.

From Washington Post • May 3, 2017

Jackson responded, however, by declaring in the December 1832 Nullification Proclamation that a state did not have the power to void a federal law.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

This obstructionist mentality led to the Nullification Crisis of 1832, when South Carolina refused to enforce federal tariffs.

From Salon • Aug. 2, 2011

Nullification, the forerunner of disunion, rose from a question of tariff.

From The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915 by Gildersleeve, Basil L. (Basil Lanneau)

Related Words

• abolishment
• abrogation
• annulment
• revocation