nullityn.
/ˈnʌlᵻti/, U.S. /ˈnələdi/ I. In senses relating to validity.† 2. Law. The action of rendering something null or of no effect. Obsolete.
1.
a. The state or condition of being legally null and void; invalidity; an instance of this. Also: a fact or circumstance conferring invalidity.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > illegality > [noun] > legal invalidity or faultiness
nullity1543
invalidity?1553
irritancy1681
vitiosity1765
voidness1883
1543 in Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 433/1 For reductioun of ane proces be ressoun of informalite & nullite contenit in the samyn.
1588 J. Penry Exhort. Wales (new ed.) 42 Presently there ensueth a nullitie of their ministerie before the Lord.
c1600 in Balfour's Practicks (1754) 367 Gif the judge..assignis for productioun..over schort and day..and thairfor the said partie protestis for nullitie of proces and remeid of law.
1608 A. Willet Hexapla in Exodum 675 Notwithstanding this negligence there was no nullitie of Aarons consecration.
a1683 J. Owen Disc. Holy Spirit (1693) 222 There would have been a Nullity in what they did.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 61 Which inferred a nullity on all their proceedings.
1776 J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 390 You have my hearty concurrence in telling the jury the nullity of acts of parliament.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. II. xiv. 142 The nullity of all proceedings taken in contravention of them.
1964 Mod. Law Rev. 27 iii. 331 Nor can a decision reviewable on habeas corpus be considered a nullity which could be disregarded when attacked collaterally.
2000 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 94 252 Like jus cogens, it is supposed to bring about the nullity of the proscribed agreements.
b. With reference to marriage: the fact or condition of being void or voidable; an instance of this. Also: a circumstance causing or giving grounds for invalidation.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > a marriage > [noun] > unlawful or invalid
putative marriage1516
nullity1570
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1222/1 The Pope beyng minded..to geue sentence for the inualiditie and nullitie of the kyngs first pretensed matrimonie.
1613 Sir R. Naunton in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 140 The nullity in the case of my Lord of Essex and his Lady.
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne v. iii, in Wks. I. 591 As wee say in the Canon-law, not take away the bond, but cause a nullitie therein . View more context for this quotation
1666 in W. Macgill Old Ross-shire & Scotl. (1909) I. 39 All declarators of nullitie of marriage for impotence.
1707 tr. M.-C. d'Aulnoy Diverting Wks. 114 Omitting nothing that was necessary to be done, to prevent the starting of any Nullities in my Wedlock.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 434 These disabilities..only make the marriage voidable, and not ipso facto void, until sentence of nullity be obtained.
1823 Ann. Reg. Hist. Eur. 90 In some cases there must be a nullity, but that there should be a voidability was most objectionable.
1845 Ld. Campbell Lives Chancellors I. xxxiv. 597 Introducing into it words respecting the original nullity of the King's first marriage.
1894 Daily News 26 July 9/1 The respondent not having entered an appearance or put in any defence in the nullity suit.
1927 Dict. National Biogr. 1912–21 at Barnes John G. There was a large volume of reforms in law..including far-reaching proposals relating to nullity of marriage.
1991 Internat. Jrnl. Law & Family 5 287 The Concordat of 1953 between Spain and the Holy See gave the Church in Spain jurisdiction over nullity and separation cases for marriages contracted under religious auspices.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > utter destruction or annihilation
anientizement1429
deletiona1513
extincting1513
annihilment1526
exterminion1528
nulling1538
annihilation1541
exterminationc1550
nullity1555
annihilating1577
massacre1595
extinguishment1599
extinct1606
expunction1615
extinction1615
discreationa1628
nullificationa1631
nullifying1640
decreation1647
defacedness1668
extinguishinga1676
erasurea1794
exterminating1796
blotting out1808
naughting1913
wipeout1968
society > law > rule of law > illegality > [noun] > legal invalidity or faultiness > annulment or abrogation
reversing?a1425
repealing1431
abatementc1436
cancellingc1440
annullation1449
defeasance1456
voidance1488
reversal1489
reduction1496
repeal1503
extinguishment1528
disannulling1533
abrogation1535
obrogation1535
unplacing1554
nullity1555
reversement1572
reclaim1604
disaffirmancea1626
avoidance1628
rescinding1638
cassating1647
vacating1648
voiding1649
defease1650
annulment1651
unlawing1651
defeat1657
vacuating1684
peremption1726
invalidation1771
rescindment1783
supersession1790
disaffirmation1827
disenactment1859
discharge1892
1555 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 495/2 That all nulliteis be resaiffit and haue proces be way of exceptiounis or replyis... That the partie aganis quhome the said exceptiounis or reply of nullity is proponit [etc.]
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxii. 144 Dissolutions and nullities of things done are not only not fauoured, but hated.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxxi. 257 A nullitie or frustration of all such acts.
1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 155 The next day a Declinator and Protestation was presented..against the Assembly and containing a Nullity of it.
1656 in J. A. Clyde Hope's Major Practicks (1938) II. 184 Nullities of wreitts founded upon ane act of parliament most byde declarator.
3. Law. An act, procedure, etc., which is null or invalid.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > illegality > [noun] > legal invalidity or faultiness > that which is
nullity1623
1623 N. Ferrar Diary 21 Feb. in D. R. Ransome 17th-cent. Polit. & Financial Papers (1996) i. 18 But these Parlyaments of late have brought forth nothinge butt Nullities.
a1651 N. Culverwell Elegant Disc. Light of Nature (1652) i. vii. 59 They are not only irregularities, but meere nullities.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 246 This the temporal courts pay no regard to, and look upon a caveat as a mere nullity.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 281 The last execution shall stand; the first being a mere nullity.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 178 The national sales, not having been confirmed by parliament, were regarded by the tribunals as nullities.
1891 Law Times 90 462/1 The Court declared the deed a nullity.
1986 Stone's Justices' Man. (ed. 118) III. v. 6048 The terms of this rule are imperative, and if not strictly complied with, the committal for trial..is a nullity.
1993 Accountancy Oct. 108/3 The Inland Revenue contended that Clause 7 rendered the deed a nullity.
II. In senses relating to quantity or value.† 6. Philosophy and Mathematics. A thing which is equivalent to zero; an argument for which a function has the value of zero; an instance of a property or function having a value of zero (cf. zero n. 3b). Obsolete.
4.
a. A state of nothingness or emptiness; the condition or fact of being worthless, unimportant, or null.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun]
noughtOE
unbeing1435
non-beingc1443
nullity?1573
non esse1585
not-beinga1586
unexistence1593
nihilhood1602
non-essence?1605
inexistence1623
never-being1633
nonentity1643
non-existence1646
no-being1651
inexistency1660
nihility1678
cipherhooda1680
vacuitya1711
nothingness1766
nihilism1856
thinglessness1874
not-ness1933
nullness1949
?1573 H. Cheke tr. F. Negri Freewyl iv. i. 132 Ieremie the Prophete to shewe this his nullitie [It. nullezza], doth say vnto God, I knowe Lord, that the wayes of man are not in his power.
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 107 Euerlasting infamie, horrible damnation, & a most hideous nullity.
c1600 W. Fowler tr. N. Machiavelli Prince in Wks. (1936) II. 94 The scarsetye, yea nuilletie, of cardnalls partakers.
1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 112 For where there is no essence, or a thing depriued of essence, there is negation, or nullitie.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar Disc. ii. §11 Sometimes such..smaller indecencies are therefore pardoned and lessened almost to a nullity.
1717 R. Bentley Serm. before King George 9 The whole..Systeme of Nature must immediately..vanish into its primitive Nullity.
a1800 W. Cowper Yardley-Oak in W. Hayley Life & Posthumous Writings Cowper (1804) III. 413 Thy growth From almost nullity into a state Of matchless grandeur.
1814 F. Burney Wanderer V. ix. lxxxv. 201 The feeling mind, dear Elinor, has..no other hold from the black, cheerless, petrifying expectation of nullity.
1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc Hist. Ten Years I. 39 Had not the hundred days afforded proof of the political nullity of the elder Bourbons?
1920 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love xv. 210 She sat suspended in a state of complete nullity, harder to bear than death.
1946 M. McLuhan Let. 10 May (1987) 184 Disgust with themselves was mounted on disgust with their external foes. Inner exhaustion was called on to fight an empty robot. A nightmare of nullity.
1989 Rev. Eng. Stud. 40 501 The nullity of such a position is shown by the impossibility of either verifying or invalidating it.
b. The state or condition of being bland or insipid; featurelessness, vapidity.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun]
feebleness1533
washiness1631
wateriness1660
wheyishness1803
inexpressiveness1815
ineffectiveness1865
nullity1883
wishy-washiness1891
1883 C. C. Perkins Hist. Handbk. Ital. Sculpt. iii. iv. 350 The greater part of the sculpture..shuns the Scylla of nullity and bad taste only to fall into the Charybdis of Michelangelism.
1920 B. Russell Pract. & Theory Bolshevism iv. 48 There it stands, this old art, the purest monument to the nullity of the art-for-art's-sake doctrine.
1947 E. Waugh Diaries (1979) 674 The shapeless, dun, functional plastic, linoleum and steel nullity of the Queen Elizabeth.
1984 R. West This Rent Night ii. iii. 67 There had been a tall and languid girl..whose bright yellow hair contrasted strongly with her pallor and the nullity of her features.
5. † a. A nought; a meaningless letter or symbol; a blank (cf. null n.1 1). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > zero > nought or character zero
cipher1399
nullity1587
nullo1598
zero1604
null1648
naught1649
noughta1660
ought1821
aught1822
oh1908
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1371*/1 The cipher with the nullities and marks for names of princes and councellors.
1624 W. Bedell Copies Certaine Lett. xii. 161 If..you finde you haue taken manie nullities for signifying numbers,..correct the totall.
b. A mere nothing; a thing of no importance, significance, or worth.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant
thing of noughtc1425
nothing such1579
of nothing1583
nullitya1591
O1608
ciphera1616
zero1650
flinga1661
leather and prunella1734
small change1822
minus quantity1843
nuthin'1843
nothingburger1953
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > that which is non-existent > a thing that does not exist > a mere nothing
thing of noughtc1425
nullitya1591
nihileity1603
nihility1765
a1591 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 448 The error..is great, but yet not such as doth make a nullity of our church.
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. Hv What the plausibilitie of Martin? A Nullitie; yea and a wofull Nullitie, and a piteous Nullitie.
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. G5 [I] them nigh blame of deep idolatrie That give so much to that slight nullitie.
1785 T. Jefferson Notes Virginia xiii. 209 Considering our rights natural, conventional and chartered as mere nullities.
1791 W. Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 226 Such a mere nullity is time, to a creature to whom God gives a feeling heart.
1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I I. x. 287 Like many similar attempts..this predatory attack concluded in a nullity.
1860 J. L. Motley Hist. Netherlands (1868) I. v. 137 His army was shrinking to a nullity.
1891 W. Morris News from Nowhere xv. 105 People had to sell themselves into the slavery of hopeless toil so that they might have something wherewith to purchase the nullities of ‘civilisation’.
1922 Jrnl. Philos. 19 281 So long as this need is not recognized..our logics must continue to be meaningless, our ethics and esthetics to be nullities.
1986 ‘A. Burgess’ Homage to QWERT YUIOP 241 There are far too many of these well-made nullities about, nonbooks pretending to be books.
c. A person regarded as being insignificant, unintelligent, or beneath consideration; a nonentity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > one who is unimportant
unknownc1390
pawnc1450
semi-cipher?1550
bauble1570
Jack with the feather1581
nobody1583
winterling1585
squash1600
rush candle1628
niflec1635
nullity1657
nonentity1710
featherweight1812
underscrub1822
nyaff1825
small fish1836
no-account1840
little fish1846
peanut1864
commonplacer1874
sparrow-fart1886
Little Willie1901
pipsqueak1905
nebbish1907
pie-biter1911
blob1916
smallie1930
no-count1932
zilch1933
Mickey Mouse1935
muzhik1945
nerd1951
nothingburger1953
nerk1955
non-person1959
no-mark1982
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Job xxx. 2 These Sanniones, in the text were, through idleness, mear nullities in the world.
1846 R. Browning Let. in Lett. R. Browning & E. B. Barrett (1899) I. 394 Such a miserable nullity, and husk of a man.
1874 J. S. Blackie On Self-culture 30 In society the most accomplished man of mere professional skill is often a nullity.
1877 A. Dobson Proverbs in Porcelain 157 The Lady was a nullity—a pale, Nerveless and pulseless quasi-invalid.
1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger ii. 27 You've been listening to some nullity with an empty shell.
1991 Henry James Rev. Winter 31 Osmond is for Isabel the quintessence of absence, the essential nullity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > algebra > [noun] > expression > function > value or set of values of
maximum1646
minimum1646
nullity1710
modulus1843
argument1865
zero1873
range1891
extremum1904
interpolate1920
1710 tr. P. Bayle Hist. & Crit. Dict. IV. 3077/2 Zeno might have argued thus... Several nullities [Fr. neants] of Extension joined together will never make an Extension.
1801 T. Taylor (title) The Metaphysics of Aristotle, translated from the Greek, with copious notes; to which is added a dissertation on nullities and diverging series.
1891 G. L. Cathcart tr. A. Harnack Elem. Differential & Integral Calculus iii. vi. 261 This limit is a zero or nullity of f(x).
7. Mathematics. The number of columns of a matrix minus its rank; the dimension of the null space of a matrix or linear transformation (equal to the dimension of its domain minus that of its range).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [noun] > array > matrix > dimensions of
order1844
nullity1884
1884 J. J. Sylvester in Amer. Jrnl. Math. 6 274 The absolute zero for matrices of any order is the matrix all of whose elements are zero. It possesses so far as regards multiplication..the distinguishing property of the zero, viz. that when entering into composition with any other matrix..the product..is itself over again... This is the highest degree of nullity which any matrix can possess, and (regarded as an integer) will be called ω, the order of the matrix... In general.., if all the minors of order ω − i + 1 vanish, but the minors of order ω − i do not all vanish, the nullity will be said to be i.
1941 G. Birkhoff & S. MacLane Surv. Mod. Algebra x. 268 Rank + nullity = Dimension of Domain.
1972 A. G. Howson Handbk. Terms Algebra & Anal. ix. 47 In the case of a homogeneous system, Ax = 0, the inverse image of 0, i.e. the set of solutions, is Ker(t)..which is a subspace of Fn..of dimension n − r, a number known as the nullity of t (or A).
1998 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95 4194/1 The dimension of the null space (the nullity of S) depends on the number of free variables in the original set of linear equations, which is referred to as the rank of S.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1543