annulment

noun

an·nul·ment ə-ˈnəl-mənt

Synonyms of annulment next

: the act of annulling something : the state of being annulled

: a judicial or ecclesiastical pronouncement declaring a marriage invalid

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Annulment usually applies to marriage. In some states an annulment may be carried out by a court ("judicial annulment"), but annulment is generally practiced by a church ("ecclesiastic annulment"), and principally the Roman Catholic Church, which traditionally hasn't permitted divorce. The usual acceptable reason for annulment is a "failure to consummate" the marriage by having children. Unlike a marriage that ends in divorce, an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed. Other things can be annulled as well, including a contract (if one party fails to comply with its terms) or an election (if it wasn't carried out properly).

Examples of annulment in a Sentence

an annulment of that hastily conceived marriage can't come too soon

Recent Examples on the Web Humphries countered Kardashian’s divorce filing by seeking an annulment, claiming fraud. —

Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 2023 Democrats, who control the Senate, have opposed that bill’s sweeping spending cuts and annulment of large parts of the Biden administration’s climate agenda. —

Emily Wilkins, Bloomberg.com, 18 May 2023 Griner filed for an annulment only 28 days after they got married, per USA Today. —

Women's Health, 28 Apr. 2023 The annulment was not granted, and the couple remained married until their divorce was finalized in 2016, TMZ reported. —

Women's Health, 28 Apr. 2023 Just one day later, Griner filed for an annulment. —

Naja Rayne, Peoplemag, 7 Sep. 2022 Now king, Charles is the first divorced monarch since Henry VIII — although two of Henry’s prolific string of marriages technically ended in annulment, not divorce. —

Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2022 According to multiple sources in the docuseries, Aaliyah’s family agreed to an NDA after the annulment with one source saying the family promised not to press charges if Kelly sold the family the rights to his first three albums. —

Vulture, 5 Jan. 2023 Divorce and annulment are among the life changes the agency will consider. —

Liz Weston, oregonlive, 31 Dec. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'annulment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.