NOTHING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does nothing mean? 

• NOTHING (noun)
  The noun NOTHING has 1 sense:

1. a quantity of no importance

  Familiarity information: NOTHING used as a noun is very rare.

• NOTHING (adverb)
  The adverb NOTHING has 1 sense:

1. in no respect; to no degree

  Familiarity information: NOTHING used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NOTHING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A quantity of no importance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

aught; cipher; cypher; goose egg; nada; naught; nil; nix; nothing; null; zero; zilch; zip; zippo

Context example:

I didn't hear zilch about it

Hypernyms ("nothing" is a kind of...):

relative quantity (a quantity relative to some purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nothing"):

nihil ((Latin) nil; nothing (as used by a sheriff after an unsuccessful effort to serve a writ))

bugger all; Fanny Adams; fuck all; sweet Fanny Adams (little or nothing at all)

• NOTHING (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In no respect; to no degree

Context example:

he looks nothing like his father

 Context examples 

But behind the dogs there was nothing but space, and into this space they flew when White Fang came on the scene, made mad by laughter.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In the meantime, we had found nothing of any value but the silver and the trinkets, and neither of these were in our way.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“It's nothing but fancy. What do you call your girl?”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Nothing was too great for Buck to do, when Thornton commanded.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth the doing....

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

With Madame Frederic and her husband: she took care of me, but she is nothing related to me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We have nothing to do but wait for him at the bank, and get out the handbills.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I've nothing more for you to-night.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Amy poked the fire and said nothing.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)