different between nothing vs nonexistent

English

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard) nuffin, nuffink, nuttin', nuthin, nuthin', nuthing, nothin'

Etymology

From Middle English nothyng, noon thing, non thing, na þing, nan thing, nan þing, from Old English n?þing, n?n þing (“nothing”, literally “not any thing”), equivalent to no +? thing. Compare Old English n?wiht (“nothing”, literally “no thing”), Swedish ingenting (“nothing”, literally “not any thing, no thing”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?th'?ng, IPA^(key): /?n????/
• Rhymes: -????
• Hyphenation: noth?ing
• Rhymes: -??

Pronoun

nothing (indefinite pronoun)

1. Not any thing; no thing.
2. An absence of anything, including empty space, brightness, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.

Synonyms

• (not any thing):
  • (standard): not a thing, naught
  • (slang): jack, nada, zip, zippo, zilch, squat, nix
  • (vulgar slang): bugger all, jack shit, sod all (British), fuck all, dick
  • (Northern English dialect): nowt

See Thesaurus:nothing

• (something trifling): nothing of any consequence, nothing consequential, nothing important, nothing significant, something inconsequential, something insignificant, something of no consequence, something trifling, something unimportant

Antonyms

• anything
• everything
• something

Translations

Noun

nothing (countable and uncountable, plural nothings)

1. Something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.

   - What happened to your face?
   - It's nothing.

   • 1673, Jeremy Taylor, Heniaytos: A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year […]

     Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths.
2. A trivial remark (especially in the term sweet nothings).
3. A nobody (insignificant person).

   You're nothing to me now!

Translations

Adverb

nothing (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Not at all; in no way.

Derived terms

Related terms

Coordinate terms

• nobody, no one
• nowhere

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “nothing”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

English

Alternative forms

• non-existent

Etymology

From non- +? existent.

Adjective

nonexistent (not comparable)

1. Not existent; not real.

   Synonyms: inexistent; see also Thesaurus:inexistent

   • 1994, William Martin Hunt, Decennial Census: 1995 Test Census Presents Opportunities to Evaluate New Census-Taking Methods, US General Accounting Office, page 4,

     In the 1995 Test Census, the Bureau plans to test the use of Postal Service letter carriers to identify vacant and nonexistent units when it mails census questionnaires.

   • 1996, Dale Jacquette, Meinongian Logic: The Semantics of Existence and Nonexistence, Walter de Gruyter, page 7,

     If there is anything of philosophical significance to be taken at face value in ordinary thought and language it is the reference and attribution of properties to existent and nonexistent objects.

   • 2015, Jonathan Gold, Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu's Unifying Buddhist Philosophy, Columbia University Press, 2016, Paperback, page 275,

     Conversely, to return to the point at hand, nonexistent entities can be known, even by a Buddha, without being, thereby, substantial.

Related terms

• nonexistence
• nonexistential

Translations

Further reading

• Existence on Wikipedia.Wikipedia