noun
-
the state of being null
-
a null or legally invalid act or instrument
-
something null, ineffective, characterless, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of nullity
From the Medieval Latin word nūllitās, dating back to 1560–70. See null, -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
By rendering the subpoena a nullity, McElroy left O’Connor nothing to enforce, making his earlier order toothless.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
In the process of conversion, however, she’s reduced to a nullity with a grating personal manner.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
But although what she could do is say, "OK, well if you said that me dropping the charges were a nullity, I'm just going to drop them again."
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2023
A city that could imagine its own improbable existence into reality could just as easily relegate this now-inconvenient natural feature into a nullity or a comedian’s gag.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2022
The agreeable nullity of Leon’s life was a polished artifact, its ease deceptive, its limitations achieved by invisible hard work and the accidents of character, none of which she could hope to rival.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Expositions upon the foure chief places in Scripture, which treat of Marriage, or nullities in Marriage.
From The Life of John Milton Volume 3 1643-1649 by David Masson
"If prescription can make mere nullities to become good and valid, the laity may be capable of all manner of ecclesiastical power, &c."
From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 03 Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church — Volume 1 by Jonathan Swift
They themselves tell you that they are nullities.
From Tancred Or, The New Crusade by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
Moreover, Jefferson entertained the belief that all appointments made by Adams after the results of the election were known were nullities, on the theory that a retiring President might not bind his successor.
From Union and Democracy by Allen Johnson
It is the high opinion I have of my countrywomen that has made me cavil, before now, on seeing them turned into elaborately dressed nullities by foolish and too adoring husbands.
From The Ways of Men by Eliot Gregory
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
