Nothing means not a single thing, or not a single part of something.
I've done nothing much since coffee time.
The man knows nothing of history or sociology. [+ of]
He was dressed in jeans and nothing else.
There is nothing wrong with the car.
2. pronoun
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.
This cold snap is nothing compared to a real winter.
She kept bursting into tears over nothing at work.
Do our years together mean nothing?
Nothing is also a noun.
It is the picture itself that is the problem; so small, so dull. It's a nothing,really.
All it took was a word here, a word there, to convince him that he was a nothing.
3. pronoun
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.
His net UK estate was worth nothing after debts were taken into account.
4. pronoun
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.
5. pronoun
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.
[emphasis]
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.
6.
See all or nothing
7.
See to be better than nothing
8.
See nothing but
9.
See nothing doing
10.
See there is nothing for it
11.
See nothing if not
12.
See it's nothing
13.
See nothing in it/nothing to it
14.
See nothing to it/nothing in it
15.
See nothing in it
16.
See nothing less than
17.
See not for nothing
18.
See something for nothing
19.
See nothing of the sort
20. See also sweet nothings
21. nothing to write home about
22. to say nothing of
23. nothing short of
24. to stop at nothing
25. to think nothing of
More Synonyms of nothing
English Easy Learning GrammarIndefinite pronounsThe indefinite pronouns are used when you do not know or do not need to say preciselywho or what you are referring to. The noun phrase which they substitute ... Read more
nothing in British English
(ˈnʌθɪŋ)
pronoun
1. (indefinite)
no thing; not anything, as of an implied or specified class of things
I can give you nothing
2.
no part or share
to have nothing to do with this crime
3.
a matter of no importance or significance
it doesn't matter, it's nothing
4.
indicating the absence of anything perceptible; nothingness
5.
indicating the absence of meaning, value, worth, etc
to amount to nothing
6.
zero quantity; nought
7. be nothing to
8. have nothing to do with
9. have nothing on
10. in nothing flat
11. nothing but
12. nothing doing
13. nothing if not
14. nothing less than
15. there's nothing for it
16. there's nothing like
17. there's nothing to it
18. think nothing of
19. to say nothing of
20. stop at nothing
adverb
21.
in no way; not at all
she looked nothing like her brother
noun
22. informal
a person or thing of no importance or significance
23. sweet nothings
▶ USAGE Nothing normally takes a singular verb, but when nothing but is followed by a plural form of a noun, a plural verb is usually used: it was a large room where nothing but souvenirs were sold
Word origin
Old English nāthing, nān thing, from nānnone1 + thing1
nothing in American English
(ˈnʌθɪŋ)
pronoun
1.
a.
no thing; not anything; naught
b.
no part, element, trace, etc.
nothing of kindness in him
2.
a.
something of little or no value, seriousness, etc.; trifle
b.
a person considered to be of no value or importance
noun
3.
nonexistence; nothingness
4.
a thing that does not exist
5.
a.
something of little or no value, seriousness, etc.; trifle
see also sweet nothings
b.
a person considered to be of no value or importance
6.
a naught; zero; cipher
adverb
7.
not at all; in no manner or degree
nothing daunted
Idioms:
for nothing
in nothing flat
make nothing of
nothing but
nothing doing
nothing if not
nothing less than
Word origin
ME < OE na thing, nan thing
More idioms containing
nothing
be nothing to write home about
be on a hiding to nothing
have nothing between your ears
much ado about nothing
Examples of 'nothing' in a sentence
nothing
The starter motor had nothing wrong with it.
Ben Nimmo IN FORKBEARD'S WAKE: Coasting Round Scandinavia (2003)
Family tradition meant nothing to the new men.
Simon Ball THE GUARDSMEN (2004)
Quotations
Nothing, like something, happens anywherePhilip LarkinI Remember, I Remember
Nothing can be created out of nothingLucretiusDe Rerum Natura
Nothing will come of nothingWilliam ShakespeareKing Lear
In other languages
nothing
British English: nothing /ˈnʌθɪŋ/ NOUN
Nothing means not anything.
There was nothing to do.
American English: nothing not a single thing
Arabic: لَاشَيّءَ
Brazilian Portuguese: nada
Chinese: 无
Croatian: ništa
Czech: nic
Danish: intet
Dutch: niets
European Spanish: nada
Finnish: mitättömyys
French: rien
German: Nichts
Greek: τίποτα
Italian: niente
Japanese: 何も･･･ない
Korean: 아무것 아닌 것
Norwegian: ingenting
Polish: nic
European Portuguese: nada
Romanian: nimic
Russian: ничто
Latin American Spanish: nada
Swedish: ingenting
Thai: ไม่มีอะไร
Turkish: hiçbir şey
Ukrainian: нічого
Vietnamese: không có gì
Chinese translation of 'nothing'
nothing
(ˈnʌθɪŋ)
pron
(= not anything) 什么(麼)也没(沒)有 (shénme yě méiyǒu)
⇒ I pressed the button but nothing happened.我按了按钮，但什么都没有发生。 (Wǒ ànle ànniǔ, dàn shénme dōu méiyǒu fāshēng.)
⇒ The man nodded but said nothing.男子点了点头，但什么也没有说。 (Nánzǐ diǎn le diǎn tóu, dàn shénme yě méiyǒu shuō.)
philosophical ideas of the void, the nothing and the `un-thought'
Synonyms
void
emptiness
nothingness
nullity
nonexistence
(noun)
Definition
a person or thing of no importance or significance
(informal)
I went from being a complete nothing to having people call me a star.
Synonyms
nobody
A man in my position has nothing to fear from a nobody like you.
cipher
They were little more than ciphers who faithfully carried out their master's commands.
nonentity
She was written off after that as a political nonentity.
non-person
idiom
See be or have nothing to do with something or someone
phrases
See for nothing
See nothing but
Quotations
Nothing, like something, happens anywhere [Philip Larkin – I Remember, I Remember]Nothing can be created out of nothing [Lucretius – De Rerum Natura]Nothing will come of nothing [William Shakespeare – King Lear]
Additional synonyms
in the sense of cipher
Definition
a person or thing of no importance
They were little more than ciphers who faithfully carried out their master's commands.
Synonyms
nobody,
nonentity,
non-person
in the sense of nonentity
Definition
an insignificant person or thing
She was written off after that as a political nonentity.
Synonyms
nobody,
lightweight (informal),
mediocrity,
cipher,
small fry,
non-person,
unimportant person
Synonyms of 'nothing'
nothing
Explore 'nothing' in the dictionary
All related terms of 'nothing'
for nothing
free, for free, without charge, at no cost, gratis
nothing but
just, only, simply, merely
apropos of nothing
arbitrarily, randomly, for no reason, irrelevantly
good-for-nothing
worthless, useless, idle, irresponsible, feckless
think nothing of something
have no compunction about, have no hesitation about, take in your stride
be or have nothing to do with something or someone
be unconnected with, be irrelevant to, have no connection with, be unrelated to