Adjacent Words

Nothing definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NOTH'ING, n. [no and thing.]
1. Not any thing; not any being or existence; a word that denies the existence of any thing; non-entity; opposed to something. The world was created from nothing.
2. Non-existnce; a state of annihilation.
3. Not any thing; not any particular thing, deed or event. Nothing was done to redeem our character. He thought nothing done, while any thing remained to be done.
A determination to choose nothing is a determination not to choose the truth.
4. No other thing.
Nothing but this will entitle you to God's acceptance.
5. No part, portion, quantity or degree. The troops manifested nothing of irresolution in the attack.
Yet had his aspect nothing of severe.
6. No importance; no value; no use.
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught. Isaiah 41.
7. No possession of estate; a low condition.
A man that from very nothing is grown to an unspeakable estate.
8. A thing of no proportion to something, or of trifling value or advantage.
The charge of making the ground, and otherwise, is great, but nothing to the profit.
9. A trifle; a thing of no consideration or importance.
Tis nothing, says the fool; but says the friend, this nothing, sir, will bring you to your end.
To make nothing of, to make no difficulty or to consider as trifling, light or unimportant.
We are industrious to presere our bodies from slavery, but we make nothing of suffering our souls to be slaves to our lusts.
NOTH'ING, adv. In no degree; not at all.
Adam, with such counsel nothing sway'd--
In the phrase, nothing worth, the words are transposed; the natural order being, worth nothing.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: nothing, nil, nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher, goose egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip, zippo] adv
1: in no respect; to no degree; "he looks nothing like his father"

Merriam Webster's

I. pronoun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English n?n thing, n?thing, from n?n no + thing thing — more at none Date: before 12th century 1. not any thing ; no thing <leaves nothing to the imagination> 2. no part 3. one of no interest, value, or consequence <they mean nothing to me> II. adverb Date: 12th century not at all ; in no degree III. noun Date: 1535 1. a. something that does not exist b. the absence of all magnitude or quantity; also zero 1a c. nothingness, nonexistence 2. someone or something of no or slight value or size 3. a light, playful, or frivolous remark — usually used in plural <whispered sweet nothings> IV. adjective Date: 1611 of no account ; worthless

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adv. --n. 1 not anything (nothing has been done; have nothing to do). 2 no thing (often foll. by compl.: I see nothing that I want; can find nothing useful). 3 a a person or thing of no importance or concern; a trivial event or remark (was nothing to me; the little nothings of life). b (attrib.) colloq. of no value; indeterminate (a nothing sort of day). 4 non-existence; what does not exist. 5 (in calculations) no amount; nought (a third of nothing is nothing). --adv. 1 not at all, in no way (helps us nothing; is nothing like enough). 2 US colloq. not at all (Is he ill? -- Ill nothing, he's dead.). Phrases and idioms: be nothing to 1 not concern. 2 not compare with. be (or have) nothing to do with 1 have no connection with. 2 not be involved or associated with. for nothing 1 at no cost; without payment. 2 to no purpose. have nothing on 1 be naked. 2 have no engagements. no nothing colloq. (concluding a list of negatives) nothing at all. nothing doing colloq. 1 a there is no prospect of success or agreement. b I refuse. 2 nothing is happening. nothing (or nothing else) for it (often foll. by but to + infin.) no alternative (nothing for it but to pay up). nothing (or not much) in it (or to it) 1 untrue or unimportant. 2 simple to do. 3 no (or little) advantage to be seen in one possibility over another. nothing less than at least (nothing less than a disaster). think nothing of it do not apologize or feel bound to show gratitude. Etymology: OE nan thing (as NO(1), THING)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nothing Noth"ing, adv. In no degree; not at all; in no wise. Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed. --Milton. The influence of reason in producing our passions is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed. --Burke. Nothing off (Naut.), an order to the steersman to keep the vessel close to the wind.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nothing Noth"ing, n. [From no, a. + thing.] 1. Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); -- opposed to anything and something. Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. --Dryden. 2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness. --Shak. 3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought. --Is. xli. 24. 'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end. --Dryden. 4. (Arith.) A cipher; naught. Nothing but, only; no more than. --Chaucer. To make nothing of. (a) To make no difficulty of; to consider as trifling or important. ``We are industrious to preserve our bodies from slavery, but we make nothing of suffering our souls to be slaves to our lusts.'' --Ray. (b) Not to understand; as, I could make nothing of what he said.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(nothings) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. Nothing means not a single thing, or not a single part of something. I've done nothing much since coffee time... Mr Pearson said he knew nothing of his wife's daytime habits... He was dressed in jeans and nothing else... There is nothing wrong with the car. PRON 2. You use nothing to indicate that something or someone is not important or significant. Because he had always had money it meant nothing to him... While the increase in homicides is alarming, it is nothing compared to what is to come in the rest of the decade... She kept bursting into tears over nothing at work... Do our years together mean nothing? PRON • Nothing is also a noun. It is the picture itself that is the problem; so small, so dull. It's a nothing, really... N-COUNT: usu sing 3. If you say that something cost nothing or is worth nothing, you are indicating that it cost or is worth a surprisingly small amount of money. The furniture was threadbare; he'd obviously picked it up for nothing... Homes in this corner of Mantua that once went for $350,000 are now worth nothing. PRON 4. You use nothing before an adjective or 'to'-infinitive to say that something or someone does not have the quality indicated. Around the lake the countryside generally is nothing special... There was nothing remarkable about him... All kids her age do silly things; it's nothing to worry about. PRON: PRON adj, PRON to-inf 5. You can use nothing before 'so' and an adjective or adverb, or before a comparative, to emphasize how strong or great a particular quality is. Youngsters learn nothing so fast as how to beat the system... I consider nothing more important in my life than songwriting... There's nothing better than a good cup of hot coffee. PRON: PRON so adj/adv, PRON compar [emphasis] 6. You can use all or nothing to say that either something must be done fully and completely or else it cannot be done at all. Either he went through with this thing or he did not; it was all or nothing. PHRASE: v-link PHR 7. If you say that something is better than nothing, you mean that it is not what is required, but that it is better to have that thing than to have nothing at all. After all, 15 minutes of exercise is better than nothing. PHRASE: v-link PHR 8. You use nothing but in front of a noun, an infinitive without 'to', or an '-ing' form to mean 'only'. All that money brought nothing but sadness and misery and tragedy... It did nothing but make us ridiculous... They care for nothing but fighting. PHRASE: PHR n/inf/-ing 9. If you say that there is nothing for it but to take a particular action, you mean that it is the only possible course of action that you can take, even though it might be unpleasant. (BRIT) Much depends on which individual ingredients you choose. There is nothing for it but to taste and to experiment for yourself... PHRASE: V inflects, PHR but to-inf, PHR but n 10. You use nothing if not in front of an adjective to indicate that someone or something clearly has a lot of the particular quality mentioned. Professor Fish has been nothing if not professional... PHRASE: v-link PHR adj [emphasis] 11. People sometimes say 'It's nothing' as a polite response after someone has thanked them for something they have done. 'Thank you for the wonderful dinner.'—'It's nothing,' Sarah said... 'I'll be on my way. I can't thank you enough, Alan.'—'It was nothing, but take care.' = don't mention it CONVENTION [formulae] 12. If you say about a story or report that there is nothing in it or nothing to it, you mean that it is untrue. It's all rubbish and superstition, and there's nothing in it. PHRASE: there v-link PHR 13. If you say about an activity that there is nothing to it or nothing in it, you mean that it is extremely easy. This device has a gripper that electrically twists off the jar top. Nothing to it... If you've shied away from making pancakes in the past, don't be put off–there's really nothing in it! PHRASE: there v-link PHR 14. If you say about a contest or competition that there is nothing in it, you mean that two or more of the competitors are level and have an equal chance of winning. PHRASE: there v-link PHR 15. Nothing of the sort is used when strongly contradicting something that has just been said. 'We're going to talk this over in my office.'—'We're going to do nothing of the sort.'... Mrs Adamson said that she was extremely sorry, in tones that made it clear that she was nothing of the sort. PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR [emphasis] 16. nothing to write home about: see home to say nothing of: see say nothing short of: see short to stop at nothing: see stop to think nothing of: see think see also sweet nothings

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nuth'-ing (lo', lo' @me'umah, etc.; medeis, oudeis): "Nothing" is represented by various words and phrases, often with lo', which is properly a substantive with the meaning of "nothing." Most frequently we have lo' me'umah, "not anything" (Ge 40:15; Jud 14:6).

Other forms are lo' dhabhar, "not anything"; (Ge 19:8); lo'khol, "not any(thing)" (Ge 11:6; Pr 13:7); la' (Aramaic), "no," "nothing" (Da 4:35, "as nothing"); 'ephec, "end," "cessation" (Isa 34:12); bilti, "without," "save," "not" (Isa 44:10; Am 3:4); 'ayin, "there is not" (Isa 41:24); once, tohu, "emptiness" (Job 6:18); bal mah, "not anything" (Pr 9:13); chinnam, "free," "gratis" (2Sa 24:24); ma`at, "to make small," "bring to nothing" (Jer 10:24); raq, "only" (Ge 26:29); le'al, "for nothing" (Job 24:25).

In 2 Macc 7:12, we have "nothing," adverbially (en oudeni), "he nothing regarded the pains" (compare 1Ki 15:21); 2 Macc 9:7 (oudamos), the Revised Version (British and American) "in no wise"; The Wisdom of Solomon 2:11, "nothing worth" (achrestos), the Revised Version (British and American) "of no service"; Baruch 6:17,26.

For "nothing" the Revised Version (British and American) has "none" (Ex 23:26; Joe 2:3), "never" (Ne 5:8), "not wherewith" (Pr 22:27), "vanity and nought" (Isa 41:29); for "answered nothing" (Mr 15:5), "no more answered anything"; "answered nothing" in Mr 15:3 is omitted; "anything" for "nothing" (1Ti 6:7), "not anything" (Ac 20:20), "not" (1Co 8:2), "no word" (Lu 1:37), "not wherewith" (Lu 7:42); for "to nothing" (Job 6:18), "up into the waste"; for "it is nothing with" (2Ch 14:11), "there is none besides," margin "like"; for "lacked nothing" (1Ki 4:27), "let nothing be lacking," for "nothing doubting" (Ac 11:12), "making no distinction"; for "hoping for nothing again" (Lu 5:35), "never despairing"; for "are nothing" (Ac 21:24), "no truth in"; for "nothing shall offend them" (Ps 119:165), "no occasion of stumbling"; for "bring to nothing" (1Co 1:19), the English Revised Version "reject," the American Standard Revised Version "bring to nought"; "nothing better" for "no good" (Ec 3:12), for "not" (Mt 13:34, different text), for "no man" (Ac 9:8), "for nothing," for "free" (Ex 21:11); "miss nothing" for "not sin" (Job 5:24), margin "shalt not err"; "and shall have nothing" for "and not for himself" (Da 9:26, margin "there shall be none belonging to him").

W. L. Walker

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. No thing, no quantity, no part, no degree. 2. Non-existence, nihility, inexistence, nihilism, nonentity, nothingness, nullity. 3. Trifle, bagatelle, small matter, thing of no importance, matter of no consequence. 4. Cipher, zero, nought. II. ad. Not at all, in no degree.

Moby Thesaurus

a little thing, a nobody, a nothing, aught, bagatelle, blank, cipher, clean slate, common man, dud, dummy, empty space, figurehead, good-for-nothing, goose egg, hardly anything, hollow man, inanity, inessential, insignificancy, jackstraw, lay figure, lightweight, little fellow, little guy, man of straw, marginal matter, matter of indifference, mediocrity, mere nothing, minor matter, nada, naught, nebbish, nichts, nihil, nihility, nil, nix, no great matter, no such thing, no-account, no-good, nobody, nobody one knows, nonentity, nothing at all, nothing in particular, nothing on earth, nothing to signify, nothing whatever, nothingness, nought, nullity, obscurity, ought, paltry affair, peanuts, peu de chose, pip-squeak, punk, puppet, pushover, rien du tout, runt, scarcely anything, scrub, shrimp, small fry, small potato, small potatoes, squirt, squit, tabula rasa, technicality, thing of naught, trifle, unworthy, vacuum, valueless, void, whiffet, whippersnapper, wind, zero, zilch