different between nullify vs annul

English

Etymology

null +? -ify.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?l?fa?/

Verb

nullify (third-person singular simple present nullifies, present participle nullifying, simple past and past participle nullified)

1. (transitive, law) To make legally invalid.

2. To prevent from happening.
3. To make of no use or value; to cancel out.

Synonyms

• (to make legally invalid): annul, cancel

Related terms

• null
• nullification
• nullifiable
• annihilate

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English annullen, from Old French anuller, from Latin annull? (“annihilate, annul”), from ad (“to”) + n?llus (“none, not any”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?l
• IPA^(key): /??n?l/
• Homophone: Anal (an ethnic group in India; not to be confused with anal, which is not homophonous)

Verb

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, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 2:

     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.

Derived terms

• annulment

Related terms

• (formally revoke the validity of): make or render null and void, null, nullify
• (dissolve (a marital union)): dissolve

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “annul”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Luann, Lunan