Meanings
plural nothingnesses
- uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–51 more example
In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness.
2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), London, page R11 - uncountableusuallyThe quality of inconsequentiality; the lack of significance.
Synonyms & antonyms
antonym(s) of
nounempty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishnāþing
- Middle Englishnothyng
- Englishnothing
- Englishnothingness
Translations
Bulgarian небитие, нищожност
- небитие (nebitie)state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- нищожност (ništožnost)void; emptiness
- нищожество (ništožestvo)quality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
Catalan no-res
- no-resstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
Finnish olemattomuus, tyhjyys
- olemattomuusstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- tyhjyysvoid; emptiness
- merkityksettömyysquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
- mitättömyysquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
French néant, vide
- néantstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- videvoid; emptiness
German Nichtvorhandensein, Nichts
- Nichtvorhandenseinstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- Nichtsstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- Nichtsvoid; emptiness
- Leerevoid; emptiness
- Bedeutungslosigkeitquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
Hungarian nem létezés, semmi
- nem létezésstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- semmivoid; emptiness
- űrvoid; emptiness
- ürességvoid; emptiness
- semmiségquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
- jelentéktelenségquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
- lényegtelenségquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
- feleslegességquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
Italian nulla
- nullastate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
Japanese 虚無
- 虚無 (kyomu)void; emptiness
Norwegian ingenting
- ingentingstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
Norwegian Bokmål intet
- intetstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
Polish nicość, pustka
- nicośćstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- pustkavoid; emptiness
- nicquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
Portuguese vacuidade, vazio
- vacuidadestate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- vaziovoid; emptiness
Russian тлен
- тлен (tlen)state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
Spanish nihilidad, nihilidad
- nihilidadstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- nihilidadvoid; emptiness
- nihilidadquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
Turkish hiçlik, boşluk
- hiçlikstate of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing
- boşlukvoid; emptiness
- anlamsızlıkquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
- bilinçsizlikquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
- şuursuzlukquality of inconsequentiality; lacking in significance
Cite this entry
nothingness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothingness
“nothingness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothingness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nothingness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothingness.
Source: nothingness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.