Meanings
plural nihilities
- countableuncountableThe state or fact of being nothing; nothingness, nullity; nonexistence.First known use 17th c.
Paeans and even poems have been written to the esoteric nature of the smallest building blocks of matter: how they manifest as everywhere and nowhere, seem to have come out of emptiness, and at the ultimate level seem to be distilled from pure nihility.
2000, Gregg Easterbrook, “Review: The Quest for Quarks”, in The Wilson Quarterly, volume 24, number 1, page 110 - countableobsoleteA nonexistent thing; nothing.First known use 18th–19th c.
Della Crusca says all past Actions are Nihilities; & that the immediate Instant is the whole of human Existence—A bad Accᵗ of it surely!
1788 December 26, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Thraliana
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinnihil“nothing”
- Renaissance Latinnihilitās
- Englishnihility
From Renaissance Latin nihilitās, from Latin nihil (“nothing”).
More words from Renaissance Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
nihility. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nihility
“nihility.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nihility. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nihility,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nihility.
Source: nihility on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.