void

[void]

adjective

1. Law.,  having no legal force or effect; not legally binding or enforceable.

2. useless; ineffectual; vain.

3. devoid; destitute (usually followed byof ).

   a life void of meaning.

4. without contents; empty.

5. without an incumbent, as an office.

   Synonyms: unoccupied, vacant

6. Mathematics.,  (of a set) containing no elements; empty.

7. (in cards) having no cards in a suit.

noun

1. an empty space; emptiness.

   He disappeared into the void.

   Synonyms: lack, absence, vacuum

2. something experienced as a loss or privation.

   His death left a great void in her life.

3. a gap or opening, as in a wall.

4. Typography.,  counter.

5. (in cards) lack of cards in a suit.

   a void in clubs.

verb (used with object)

1. to make ineffectual; invalidate; nullify.

   to void a check.

2. to empty; discharge; evacuate.

   to void excrement.

3. to clear or empty (often followed byof ).

   to void a chamber of occupants.

4. Archaic.,  to depart from; vacate.

verb (used without object)

1. to defecate or urinate.

void

/ vɔɪd /

adjective

1. without contents; empty

2. not legally binding

   null and void

3. (of an office, house, position, etc) without an incumbent; unoccupied

4. destitute or devoid

   void of resources

5. having no effect; useless

   all his efforts were rendered void

6. (of a card suit or player) having no cards in a particular suit

   his spades were void

noun

1. an empty space or area

   the huge desert voids of Asia

2. a feeling or condition of loneliness or deprivation

   his divorce left him in a void

3. a lack of any cards in one suit

   to have a void in spades

4. Also called: counter. the inside area of a character of type, such as the inside of an o

verb

1. to make ineffective or invalid

2. to empty (contents, etc) or make empty of contents

3. (also intr) to discharge the contents of (the bowels or urinary bladder)

4. archaic,  to vacate (a place, room, etc)

5. obsolete,  to expel

Other Word Forms

• voidness noun
• nonvoid adjective
• prevoid verb (used with object)
• unvoid adjective
• unvoidness noun
• voider noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of void¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; (adjective) Middle English voide, from Anglo-French, Old French voide, voit, vuide, vuit ( French vide ), from unattested Vulgar Latin vocīta, vocita feminine of vocītus, vocitus unattested and dissimilated variant of Latin vacīvus, vocīvus, “empty”; vacuum; (verb) Middle English voiden, from Anglo-French voider, Old French, from unattested Vulgar Latin vocitāre, derivative of unattested vocītus, vocitus; (noun) derivative of the adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of void¹

C13: from Old French vuide, from Vulgar Latin vocītus (unattested), from Latin vacuus empty, from vacāre to be empty

Idioms and Phrases

see null and void.

Synonym Study

See empty.

Example Sentences

If it fails, Myanmar faces economic ruin reminiscent of 1987, when dictator Ne Win voided all bank notes in denominations not divisible by his lucky number 9, wiping out citizens’ savings overnight.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

All three children rapidly fired their slingshots into the void.

Read more on Literature

Now, lying thick and still under the cover of plastic seats, the cavernous emptiness of the place mirrors the void left since it is modern reincarnation in the late 1990s.

Read more on BBC

He also claims that former president Joe Biden’s pardons are null and void because he used an autopen, which is perfectly legal.

Read more on Salon

Calling for diplomatic efforts to free the couple to be stepped up, Bennett added: "I listened to story after story of families begging for action while their loved ones disappear into this diplomatic void."

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• abrogate 
• annul 
• dissolve 
• invalidate 
• rescind 
• vacate