nothingness

English edit

Etymology edit

From nothing +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation edit

Audio (US) (file)

Noun edit

nothingness (usually uncountable, plural nothingnesses)

The state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing.
- 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:
  A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
- 2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎^[1], London, page R11:
  In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness.
A void; an emptiness.
The quality of inconsequentiality; the lack of significance.

Synonyms edit

(state of nonexistence): nihility; See also Thesaurus:inexistence

Antonyms edit

(antonym(s) of "state of nonexistence"): existence; See also Thesaurus:existence

Related terms edit

Translations edit

state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing

Bulgarian: небитие (bg) n (nebitie)
Catalan: no-res (ca) m
Finnish: olemattomuus (fi)
French: néant (fr) m
German: Nichtvorhandensein n, Nichts (de) n
Hungarian: nem létezés
Italian: nulla (it) m
Macedonian: неби́тие n (nebítie)
Norwegian: ingenting (no)
Bokmål: intet (no) n
Polish: nicość (pl) f
Portuguese: vacuidade (pt) f
Russian: тлен (ru) m (tlen) (poetic)
Turkish: hiçlik (tr)

void; emptiness

Bulgarian: нищожност (bg) f (ništožnost)
Finnish: tyhjyys (fi)
French: vide (fr) m
German: Nichts (de) n, Leere (de) f
Hungarian: semmi (hu), űr (hu), üresség (hu)
Macedonian: пра́знина f (práznina), пра́зност f (práznost)
Portuguese: vazio (pt) m
Turkish: boşluk (tr)

quality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance

Bulgarian: нищожество (bg) n (ništožestvo)
Finnish: merkityksettömyys, mitättömyys (fi)
German: Bedeutungslosigkeit (de) f
Hungarian: semmiség (hu), jelentéktelenség (hu), lényegtelenség (hu), feleslegesség (hu)
Macedonian: ништо́жество n (ništóžestvo), ни́штожност f (níštožnost), безна́чајност f (beznáčajnost)
Turkish: anlamsızlık (tr), bilinçsizlik (tr), şuursuzluk (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: ^{(please verify)} nada (es) f