nothingness

[ nuhth-ing-nis ]

noun

1. the state of being nothing.
2. something that is nonexistent:

   a view of humanity as suspended between infinity and nothingness.

3. lack of being; nonexistence:

   The sound faded into nothingness.

4. unconsciousness or death:

   She remembered a dizzy feeling, then nothingness.

5. utter insignificance, emptiness, or worthlessness; triviality:

   The days followed one another in an endless procession of nothingness.

6. something insignificant or without value.

nothingness

/ ˈnʌθɪŋnɪs /

noun

1. the state or condition of being nothing; nonexistence
2. absence of consciousness or life
3. complete insignificance or worthlessness
4. something that is worthless or insignificant

Word History and Origins

Origin of nothingness¹

First recorded in 1625–35; nothing + -ness

Example Sentences

Maybe my spirit would have moved to the next body, maybe I would have continued on in the nothingness that I already was.

From Time

All these factors combined to result in a general disregard of his diaries as a final piece of glitzy nothingness from a man for whom lack of substance was the cornerstone of a career.

From Washington Blade

On a chilly evening last fall, I stared into nothingness out of the floor-to-ceiling windows in my office on the outskirts of Harvard’s campus.

From Nautilus

They tackled big themes — the existence of God, the purpose of art, freedom, sex, time, nothingness.

From Washington Post

Maybe it was the heat, but on first glance, the arch, perched on the edge of heat-seared nothingness, seemed like some otherworldly desert portal to another dimension.

From Outside Online

This book seeks to fill that void (although arguably atheist kids should get used to nothingness sooner rather than later).

From The Daily Beast

I do not like this sense of God, this nothingness in which I now dwell.

From The Daily Beast

“Attach Form(s) W-2” would be an exercise in the stapling of nothingness.

From The Daily Beast

The whole figure is clearly legible, except for the feet, which disappear into blood-stained nothingness.

From The Daily Beast

But what actually contributes to this unique sartorial nothingness?

From The Daily Beast

The nectar of the gods pales into nothingness when compared with a toddy such as I make, said he.

From Project Gutenberg

Four such incarnations await it, each of increasing might, and then the spirit returns to its original nothingness.

From Project Gutenberg

The winds attack with a terrible crash, and defend themselves by fading into nothingness.

From Project Gutenberg

She, too, was aware—and sometimes afraid—of drab years running out into nothingness.

From Project Gutenberg

The highest idea of the Hindu, as of the Buddhist, is to pass out into a sort of painless existence of nothingness.

From Project Gutenberg