• Nothing

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: nÅ­th'Ä­ng, IPA: /ˈnʌθɪŋ/
    • Rhymes: -ʌθɪŋ
    • Hyphenation: noth + ing

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    no + thing

    Pronoun

    nothing

    1. Not any thing; no thing.
      • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, the players see little or nothing of their cards at first starting
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 19, Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
      • 2013-07-19, Peter Wilby, Finland spreads word on schools, Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
    2. An absence of anything, including empty space, brightness, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.
    3. (slang, in double negatives) AnythingI didn't see nothing. I didn't see anything.

    Synonyms

  • See
  • Full definition of nothing

    Noun

    nothing

    (plural nothings)
    1. Something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.What happened to your face?It's nothing.
      • Jeremy TaylorSermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths.
    2. A trivial remark (especially in the term sweet nothings).
    3. A nobody (insignificant person).You're nothing to me now!

    Adverb

    nothing

    1. (archaic) Not at all; in no way.
      • 1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems, The Motion from London to Syria is as much as nothing; and nothing altereth the relation which is between them.

    Related terms

    Terms etymologically related to the pronoun, noun, or adverb nothing
    © Wiktionary