annul
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English annullen, from Old French anuller, from Latin annullō (“annihilate, annul”), from ad (“to”) + nūllus (“none, not any”).
Pronunciation edit
- Rhymes: -ʌl
- IPA(key): /əˈnʌl/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Homophone: Anal (an ethnic group in India; not to be confused with anal, which is not homophonous)
Verb edit
annul (third-person singular simple present annuls, present participle annulling, simple past and past participle annulled)
- (transitive) To formally revoke the validity of.
- 1902, William James, “Lecture 2”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience […] [1], London: Longmans, Green & Co.:
- If you ask how religion thus falls on the thorns and faces death, and in the very act annuls annihilation, I cannot explain the matter, for it is religion's secret, and to understand it you must yourself have been a religious man of the extremer type.
- (transitive) To dissolve (a marital union) on the grounds that it is not valid.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
- (formally revoke the validity of): make or render null and void, null, nullify
- (dissolve (a marital union)): dissolve
Translations edit
formally revoke the validity of
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dissolve (a marital union)
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References edit
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “annul”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.