ZILCH Synonyms: 70 Similar and Opposite Words

zilch

noun

ˈzilch

Definition of zilch

as in nobody

a person of no importance or influence a passive and retiring little zilch of a person

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in nothing

the numerical symbol 0 or the absence of number or quantity represented by it the amount of money that we have coming in right now is zilch

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of zilch The women earned as little as $25 per game—or frequently zilch. — Literary Hub, 12 Mar. 2026 Reviews have been mixed, with some critics embracing Gyllenhaal’s bold vision and others dismissing it as a whole lot of sound and fury, signifying zilch. — Brent Lang, Variety, 6 Mar. 2026 Once all the air pollution goes to zilch in half an hour, the Airmega automatically switches into eco mode. — Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 6 Feb. 2026 At zero or zip or zilch charge. — Chris John Amorosino, Hartford Courant, 30 Jan. 2026 The Bengals, meanwhile, have zip-zilch-nada defensively other than Trey Hendrickson, who might not play on a short week with a bad back/hip. — Vic Tafur, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for zilch

Noun

In the trailer, the civilians are selling themselves as a new breed of nobodies.

— Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 17 Aug. 2026
Despite the tragicomic instability and the rotating cast of nobodies temporarily tasked with running the country, when seen in macroeconomic terms, Peru appears to be doing just fine, thank you.

— Daniel Alarcón, New Yorker, 4 June 2026

Definition of nobody

Noun

Women continue marching down the runway in their stilettos and frothy little nothings.

— Danielle Pergament, Allure, 19 Oct. 2026
While CinemaCon 2026 brought us exciting news about new films, it was also bogged down with status quo nothings about how Amazon MGM still hasn’t found a new James Bond.

— Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2026

Definition of nothing

Noun

There’s that vibrancy and, on the other side of the ledger, dead boys, ciphers, unfinished or unfinishable quests.

— Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
But in my view, our relationships to animals, whose lives are untouched by the existential woes and artifices of personhood, are the richest and most evident ciphers for our own often inscrutable psyches.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 June 2026

Definition of cipher

Noun

Riemann himself proved that nontrivial zeros of the zeta function can only be found in a vertical strip between zero and 1.

— Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 19 Oct. 2026
Engineers could represent the two configurations as binary digits, or zeros and ones.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of zero

Noun

While most citrus trees are too large for indoor growing, there are a few small or dwarf varieties of citrus that can be kept indoors year-round in pots.

— Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 16 Oct. 2026
These explosions, known as hypernovas, were first proposed to explain unusual stars in the halo of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and in a neighboring dwarf galaxy.

— Robert Lea, Space.com, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of dwarf

Noun

In four debates, Collins worked to portray Jackson as an angry lightweight who wouldn’t be effective in the Senate.

— David Weigel, semafor.com, 23 Oct. 2026
The Burberry x Smythson notebooks are filled with Smythson’s signature blue lightweight paper, while the opening and closing pages feature a London map print inspired by the fall 2026 Burberry runway collection, or the house check.

— Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of lightweight

Browse Nearby Words

zigzags

zilch

zilches

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Zilch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/zilch. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of zilch

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

milieu

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes