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English borrowed null from the Anglo-French nul, meaning "not any." That word, in turn, traces to the Latin word nullus, from ne-, meaning "not," and ullus, meaning "any." Null often pops up in legal and scientific contexts. It was originally used in Scottish law and still carries the meaning "having no legal or binding force." In mathematics, it is sometimes used to mean "containing nothing"; for example, the set of all whole numbers that are divisible by zero is the "null set" (that is, there are no numbers that fit that description). But null also has some more general uses. We often use it with the meaning "lacking meaning or value," as in "By the time I heard it, the news was null."

Examples of null in a Sentence

Adjective the contract was null because one party forgot to sign it that information is as null as no information at all Verb asked the state court to null the election results because of widespread voting irregularities

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective If the result is null, the account exists on the system, but no one has yet signed in using it. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 22 July 2022 To be assigned a Quality Score, though, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures. — Charles Rotblut, Forbes, 7 July 2022 To be assigned a Quality Score, though, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures. — Charles Rotblut, Forbes, 7 July 2022 Zandi also claimed that energy regulation and the money supply had null effects on inflation. — Christine Mui, Fortune, 13 June 2022 When the sun goes down, however, that aspect becomes null. — Mary Colurso | Mcolurso@al.com, al, 5 June 2022 And ableism is the way disabled people are treated every day, actively and passively, like a kind of null set of people who exist in the abstract, but are never really regarded as people like everyone else. — Andrew Pulrang, Forbes, 31 Jan. 2022 To be assigned a Quality Score, though, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures. — Charles Rotblut, Forbes, 6 June 2022 To be assigned a Quality Score, though, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures. — Charles Rotblut, Forbes, 18 May 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun In her affidavit, Butler says the party should declare the runoff null and hold a new one between her and Harrison. — Mike Cason | Mcason@al.com, al, 8 July 2022 Do not be alarmed when informed that the weather (chilly) and probability of establishing a security perimeter in the Park (null) have persuaded diplomats to reconsider stroll. — Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022 In another measure of political disillusionment, more than three million people cast blank or null-and-void ballots — and that does not include the 13.7 million who opted not to vote at all. — New York Times, 26 Apr. 2022 Since then, Summer has interacted with the Duttons a number of times, but hints at a burgeoning relationship were pretty much null. — Rebecca Norris, Country Living, 13 Mar. 2022 Doing side lying leg raises incorrectly will miss your Gluteus Medius and further strengthen an already strong TFL which does not help prevent pelvic drop, making your time invested into doing the side lying leg lift exercise null. — Jon-erik Kawamoto, Outside Online, 26 Mar. 2020 Language is about words, but also about context and structure, and sometimes those things render specificity null. — New York Times, 11 Nov. 2021 The concept of a null set is extremely useful in mathematics. — Martin Goldstern, Scientific American, 16 Aug. 2021 Some undecided voters, like Sao Paulo resident Mauricio Soares, are choosing to vote null or blank. — Juliana Koch, Philip Wang And Rodrigo Pedroso, CNN, 5 Aug. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Ricart understood the changing dynamics in college football and was careful to include a contingency that would null the truck’s lease should Ewers transfer. — Laine Higgins, WSJ, 9 Dec. 2021 China will likely avoid gross and blatant expropriation but will change regulation either to dilute ownership, reclassify ownership, or null out bond and stock values for heavily indebted companies. — Anne Stevenson-yang, Forbes, 1 Sep. 2021 Miley threw 51/3 perfect innings, nulled three runners in the seventh and tried to complete a shutout in the ninth. — Hunter Atkins, Houston Chronicle, 24 July 2019 The sats surge their signal strength to overwhelm any noise from an enemy trying to jam them, while nulling antennas pinpoint the attack and dampen the signal with counter-noise. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, 15 Feb. 2018 Come kickoff Saturday night, any previous patterns and statistics for Futbol Club Cincinnati are nulled. — Charlie Hatch, Cincinnati.com, 21 Oct. 2017 However, the shock lead was nulled three minutes before the break, as Cristiano Ronaldo levelled things up from 12-yards-out, punishing the 24-year-old Lilywhites right-back's decision to bring down Toni Kroos inside the area. — SI.com, 18 Oct. 2017 Don’t worry that cooking with it will null the point: The heat is not so high as to damage the principal flavors. — Emily Horton, charlotteobserver, 29 Aug. 2017 Don’t worry that cooking with it will null the point: The heat is not so high as to damage the principal flavors. — Emily Horton, sacbee, 29 Aug. 2017 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'null.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.