dictionary definitions for "nothing"


From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  nothing
      adv 1: in no respect; to no degree; "he looks nothing like his
             father"
      n 1: a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had
           ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had
           done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all for
           naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: nothing,
           nil, nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher,
           goose egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip, zippo]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nothing \Noth"ing\, n. [From no, a. + thing.]
     1. Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word
        thing); -- opposed to anything and something.
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              Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. --Dryden.
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     2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility;
        nothingness. --Shak.
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     3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something
        irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative
        unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle.
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              Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought.
                                                    --Is. xli. 24.
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              'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend,
              This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     4. (Arith.) A cipher; naught.
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     Nothing but, only; no more than. --Chaucer.
  
     To make nothing of.
        (a) To make no difficulty of; to consider as trifling or
            important. "We are industrious to preserve our bodies
            from slavery, but we make nothing of suffering our
            souls to be slaves to our lusts." --Ray.
        (b) Not to understand; as, I could make nothing of what he
            said.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nothing \Noth"ing\, adv.
     In no degree; not at all; in no wise.
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           Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed.  --Milton.
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           The influence of reason in producing our passions is
           nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed.
                                                    --Burke.
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     Nothing off (Naut.), an order to the steersman to keep the
        vessel close to the wind.
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