nothing
/ˈnʌθɪŋ
/pronoun
1Not anything; no single thing: I said nothing there’s nothing you can do they found nothing wrong...
- Don't worry though - if you haven't done anything wrong you've nothing to fear.
- I could find nothing wrong in anything that John Howard said in his speech today.
- Those people who discard anything unwanted at their feet may see nothing wrong or offensive about their behaviour.
Synonyms
not a thing, not a single thing, not anything, nothing at all, nil, zero;
Northern English nowt
informal zilch, sweet Fanny Adams, sweet FA, nix, not a dicky bird
British informal damn all, not a sausage
North American informal zip, nada, a goose egg, bupkis
British vulgar slang bugger all, sod all, fuck all
archaic nought, naught
1.1Something of no importance or concern: ‘What are you laughing at?’ ‘Oh, nothing, sir’ they are nothing to him [as noun]: no longer could we be treated as nothings...
- My trivial career concerns are nothing compared to the what she and Zach live through every day.
- But that is nothing compared to the concerns all Leeds United fans must have.
- In retrospect, the most shocking thing was the way the police treated the violence as nothing.
Synonyms
a matter of no importance/consequence, a trifling matter, a trifle, a piece of trivia, a (mere) bagatelle;
neither here nor there
informal no big deal
a person of no importance, an unimportant person, a person of no account, a nobody, a nonentity, a cipher, a non-person;
a lightweight;
British small beer
1.2(In calculations) no amount; nought.What I could not get used to was the money, huge wads of notes amounting to virtually nothing....
- First the forward transaction costs nothing for either party to enter into.
Synonyms
zero, nought, 0;
Tennis love;
Cricket a duck
adjective [attributive] informal
Having no prospect of progress; of no value: he had a series of nothing jobs
adverb
1Not at all: a man who cared nothing for her he looks nothing like the others
1.1 [postpositive] North American informal Used to contradict something emphatically: ‘This is a surprise.’ ‘Surprise nothing.’
Phrases
be nothing to do with
for nothing
have nothing on someone
have nothing to do with
no nothing
not for nothing
nothing but
nothing daunted
nothing doing
nothing (or nothing else) for it
nothing if not
nothing less than
nothing much
there is nothing like
there is nothing to it
stop at nothing
sweet nothings
think nothing of it
you ain't seen nothing yet
Origin
Old English nān thing (see no, thing).