Fred MajdalanyEmily Dickinson
Did you know?
Let’s be honest: null is kind of a nothing word. That’s not a judgment—it was literally borrowed into English from the Anglo-French word 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," especially in the phrase "null and void." 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). Null is occasionally seen in non-technical contexts with the meaning "lacking meaning or value," as in "if no one reads it, the book's content is null."
Synonyms
Examples of null in a Sentence
Saima S. Iqbal, Scientific American, 4 Sep. 2024
However, scientific studies have found mixed results: On the one hand, some studies find evidence that passionate employees tend to perform better, while other research has documented null or even negative effects on performance.
—Erica R. Bailey,
kai Krautter,
wen Wu,
adam D. Galinsky,
jon M. Jachimowicz, Harvard Business Review, 24 July 2024
Dylan Matthews, Vox, 15 July 2024
But the methods being imperfect, and interpretation being somewhat an art, a consensus of Out-of-Africa + total replacement has been assumed to be a null.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 21 Apr. 2010
Emily Horton, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024
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.
—Jessica Rodriguez, Journal Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2022
See all Example Sentences for null 
Dictionary Entries Near null
Cite this Entry
“Null.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/null. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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