ex nihilo

[eks nahy-uh-loh, nee-uh-]

adverb

Latin.

1. out of nothing; from nothing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ex nihilo¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin ex nihilō, equivalent to ex + nihilō (ablative singular of nihil “nothing”); ex- ¹ ( def. ), nil

Example Sentences

Wallen’s hours-long pity parties didn’t spring up ex nihilo.

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Trumpism was not suddenly born ex nihilo in 2015; it has been at least 30 years in the making.

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Finally, while this trend clearly skyrocketed during the pandemic, it didn’t emerge ex nihilo.

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Any number can be written as a string of zeros and ones; to Leibniz, this was the creation ex nihilo, the creation of the universe out of nothing more than God/1 and void/0.

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It was creatio ex nihilo, despite the Aristotelian ban on the vacuum.

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