void

[void]

adjective

1. Law.,  having no legal force or effect; not legally binding or enforceable.

2. useless; ineffectual; vain.

3. devoid; destitute (usually followed byof ).

   a life void of meaning.

4. without contents; empty.

5. without an incumbent, as an office.

   Synonyms: unoccupied, vacant

6. Mathematics.,  (of a set) containing no elements; empty.

7. (in cards) having no cards in a suit.

noun

1. an empty space; emptiness.

   He disappeared into the void.

   Synonyms: lack, absence, vacuum

2. something experienced as a loss or privation.

   His death left a great void in her life.

3. a gap or opening, as in a wall.

4. Typography.,  counter.

5. (in cards) lack of cards in a suit.

   a void in clubs.

verb (used with object)

1. to make ineffectual; invalidate; nullify.

   to void a check.

2. to empty; discharge; evacuate.

   to void excrement.

3. to clear or empty (often followed byof ).

   to void a chamber of occupants.

4. Archaic.,  to depart from; vacate.

verb (used without object)

1. to defecate or urinate.

void

/ vɔɪd /

adjective

1. without contents; empty

2. not legally binding

   null and void

3. (of an office, house, position, etc) without an incumbent; unoccupied

4. destitute or devoid

   void of resources

5. having no effect; useless

   all his efforts were rendered void

6. (of a card suit or player) having no cards in a particular suit

   his spades were void

noun

1. an empty space or area

   the huge desert voids of Asia

2. a feeling or condition of loneliness or deprivation

   his divorce left him in a void

3. a lack of any cards in one suit

   to have a void in spades

4. Also called: counter. the inside area of a character of type, such as the inside of an o

verb

1. to make ineffective or invalid

2. to empty (contents, etc) or make empty of contents

3. (also intr) to discharge the contents of (the bowels or urinary bladder)

4. archaic,  to vacate (a place, room, etc)

5. obsolete,  to expel

Other Word Forms

• voidness noun
• voider noun
• nonvoid adjective
• prevoid verb (used with object)
• unvoid adjective
• unvoidness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of void¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; (adjective) Middle English voide, from Anglo-French, Old French voide, voit, vuide, vuit ( French vide ), from unattested Vulgar Latin vocīta, vocita feminine of vocītus, vocitus unattested and dissimilated variant of Latin vacīvus, vocīvus, “empty”; vacuum; (verb) Middle English voiden, from Anglo-French voider, Old French, from unattested Vulgar Latin vocitāre, derivative of unattested vocītus, vocitus; (noun) derivative of the adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of void¹

C13: from Old French vuide, from Vulgar Latin vocītus (unattested), from Latin vacuus empty, from vacāre to be empty

Idioms and Phrases

see null and void.

Synonym Study

See empty.

Example Sentences

It’s those small gestures during their hangouts — like Dennis refraining from correcting Roman’s misuse of idioms — that forge a special if imbalanced dynamic as they try to fill their respective voids.

From Los Angeles Times

Those dogs, I hasten to note, are doing the best they can to bridge the void.

From Los Angeles Times

Now, if an agreement is struck with Brentford, it could fall to Wissa to help fill the void left by the Swede.

From BBC

The ruling said that Habba’s actions since the clock ran out on her interim posting can be “declared void.”

From Salon

The inner pallets of flooring were hollowed out to create a void where they could hide the drugs before organising shipping to Northern Ireland using a legitimate shipping agent who was unaware of the cannabis.

From BBC

Related Words

• abrogate 
• annul 
• dissolve 
• invalidate 
• rescind 
• vacate