# nothing

Pronunciation: say "NUTH-ing" /ˈnʌθɪŋ/

## Pronoun

1. Not any thing at all; no thing of any kind.
   - Simple: Not a single thing, not anything at all.
   - _Nothing could explain the strange noise coming from the attic._
   - _After the fire, nothing remained of the old barn._
6. A complete absence of anything at all, including empty space, light, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.
   - Simple: A total absence of everything: no space, light, matter, or anything else.
   - _Philosophers have long argued about whether nothing can truly exist._
   - _Physicists point out that even a perfect vacuum is not truly nothing, since fields still fill it._

## Noun

2. A trivial thing, or something of no real consequence or importance.
   - Simple: A thing that is so small or unimportant that it hardly matters.
   - _He thanked me again and again, but it was really nothing._
   - _Their disagreement turned out to be nothing in the end._
7. An insignificant person; someone regarded as having no importance or worth.
   - Simple: A person who is seen as having no importance at all.
   - _Before the promotion, he felt like a nothing at the company._
   - _The aristocrats dismissed her as a nothing from the provinces._
8. A trivial or tender remark, especially the soft, loving words exchanged between people in love.
   - Simple: A small, sweet thing that someone says, often to a person they love.
   - _Couples strolled along the beach at sunset, murmuring sweet nothings to each other as the waves rolled in._
   - _Between courses, he kept leaning across the table to whisper some sweet nothing that made her laugh._
10. The figure zero, used above all for a team's or player's score in a game or match. *(US)*
   - Simple: The number zero, said most often about the score in a game or sport.
   - _The Cubs led two to nothing going into the ninth inning._
   - _Losing six to nothing at halftime, the coach tore up her game plan._

## Interjection

3. Used to dismiss or withdraw something you began to say, signaling that it is unimportant.
   - Simple: Said to take back what you just started to say, meaning it does not matter.
   - _He started to ask a question, then just muttered, "Nothing."_
   - _"Did you want something?" "Nothing, it can wait."_

## Adjective

4. Of no importance, value, or quality; lacking any real substance or effort.
   - Simple: Not important or worth much, of poor quality, or showing little effort, like a nothing film.
   - _The critics called it a nothing film, barely worth the ticket._
   - _She brushed off the insult as a nothing remark._

## Adverb

5. In no respect or degree; not in any way.
   - Simple: Not even a little, or not in any way.
9. Placed immediately after a word echoed from someone else's remark, to flatly dismiss what that person claimed or proposed. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Said just after repeating a word someone used, to say strongly that what they said is wrong.
   - _"It was an accident." "Accident nothing. He swung at me on purpose."_
   - _"It was just a misunderstanding," he said. "Misunderstanding nothing! You knew exactly what you were doing."_

## Origin

Old English joined nān and þing, or wrote nāþing, for "not any thing", and Middle English kept it as nothyng or non thing. It is simply no plus thing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/nothing (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).