Synonyms of nugatory

nugatory

adjective

ˈnü-gə-ˌtȯr-ē 

1

as in null

having no legal or binding force

the congressional resolution has symbolic value only, as it relates to a matter governed by the states and is thus nugatory

Synonyms & Similar Words

• null
• invalid
• void
• inoperative
• illegal
• null and void
• worthless
• useless
• nonbinding
• bad
• ineffectual
• ineffective
• nonvalid

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• good
• valid
• legal
• binding
• working

2

as in minor

lacking importance

the book is entertaining, but its contributions to Shakespearean scholarship are nugatory

Synonyms & Similar Words

• minor
• small
• little
• worthless
• slight
• trivial
• unimportant
• trifling
• frivolous
• incidental
• insignificant
• inconsiderable
• inconsequential
• foolish
• negligible
• petty
• minute
• small-fry
• Mickey Mouse
• neither here nor there
• fiddling
• one-horse
• obscure
• anonymous
• jerkwater
• paltry
• unknown
• small-time
• nickel-and-dime
• nameless
• uncelebrated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• substantial
• important
• significant
• major
• meaningful
• consequential
• momentous
• fatal
• weighty
• big
• eventful
• material
• decisive
• principal
• chief
• dominant
• valuable
• fateful
• remarkable
• outstanding
• impressive
• worthy
• overbearing
• exceptional
• overriding
• worthwhile
• prominent
• distinctive
• eminent
• great
• unfrivolous
• overmastering
• distinguished
• essential
• illustrious
• fundamental
• basic
• famous
• notorious
• prestigious
• key
• renowned
• all-important
• preeminent

Synonym Chooser

How is the word nugatory distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of nugatory are empty, hollow, idle, otiose, and vain. While all these words mean "being without worth or significance," nugatory suggests triviality or insignificance.

a monarch with nugatory powers

How do empty and hollow relate to one another, in the sense of nugatory?

Both empty and hollow suggest a deceiving lack of real substance or soundness or genuineness.

an empty attempt at reconciliation

a hollow victory

In what contexts can idle take the place of nugatory?

While in some cases nearly identical to nugatory, idle suggests being incapable of worthwhile use or effect.

idle speculations

When is it sensible to use otiose instead of nugatory?

The synonyms otiose and nugatory are sometimes interchangeable, but otiose suggests that something serves no purpose and is either an encumbrance or a superfluity.

a film without a single otiose scene

When would vain be a good substitute for nugatory?

In some situations, the words vain and nugatory are roughly equivalent. However, vain implies either absolute or relative absence of value.

vain promises

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of nugatory

Critics sometimes complained about the lack of overt politics in Annie’s books, as though the questions that obsessed her—how to value human lives, and whose, and on what terms—were politically nugatory. — Robert P. Baird, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2026

It could be used to rationalize stealing the pennies from a dead man’s eyes, true, even considering the nugatory value of the contemporary penny. — Marilynne Robinson, The New York Review of Books, 27 May 2020

Yet all of these questions seem, increasingly, merely nostalgic, nugatory, in the face of the dissolution of the common solidarity of principles that had once made the liberation happen. — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 June 2019

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