nullification
[nuhl-uh-fi-key-shuh n]
- an act or instance of nullifying.
- the state of being nullified.
- (often initial capital letter) 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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Origin of nullification
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nullification
Contemporary Examples
This behavior is so unprecedented that neutral observers have likened it to nullification and other anti-majoritarian tactics.
His point being I guess that nullification wasn't limited to the South.
The nullification craziness, mostly talk during the first Obama term, is inching toward codification.
It's a form of nullification, and Jim DeMint even used the word.
Were there protest marches, mass donnings of tricorn hats, nullification threats from states regarding federal legislation?
Historical Examples
Nullification, the forerunner of disunion, rose from a question of tariff.
The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915Basil L. Gildersleeve
This was the doctrine of nullification which grew to secession in 1860.
A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by YearEdwin Emerson
The topic of nullification was dragged in by Southern speakers.
A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by YearEdwin Emerson
“Nullification” was the name which this referendum soon acquired.
Expansion and ConflictWilliam E. Dodd
She would dance his nullification, she would dance to her unseen Lord.
The RainbowD. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
Word Origin and History for nullification
n.
in U.S. political sense of "a state's refusing to allow a federal law to be enforced," 1798, in Thomas Jefferson; from Late Latin nullificationem (nominative nullificatio) "a making as nothing," from past participle stem of nullificare (see nullify). Related: Nullificationist.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
nullification
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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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.