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/
  • (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)

  1. (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.
  2. (transitive) To dissolve (a marital union) on the grounds that it is not valid.

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