null

View more Health videos

noun

No thing; not anything: nil, nothing. Informal zero. Slang nix, zilch. Archaic aught. See absence.

adj

Definition: ineffectual, valueless
Antonyms: effective, effectual, valid, valuable, worthwhile, worthy

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Of no legal validity, force, or effect; nothing.

The term null as used in the phrase null and void refers to something that binds no one or is incapable of giving rise to any rights or duties under any circumstances.

An important technique for precise measurement, by cancelling an unknown against a known standard. When the unknown and the opposed standard cancel, or 'null', then they are equal. The most familiar example is weighing with a balance: when the known mass balances the unknown mass they must be equal, so the unknown mass has been established by a simple nulling technique. A Wheatstone bridge determines electrical resistances with great precision and over a wide range in a similar way. Nulling methods are particularly useful for instruments as they do not require precise linearity of the apparatus, though the results can be extremely accurate over a wide range.

It has been suggested (Gregory 1968) that the nervous system may employ nulling for sensory discrimination (especially for weight), by comparing an expected against a sensed value. This could help to explain how discrimination can be so good over a very wide range, from a few grams to 10 or even 100 kilograms, though neural components are far less stable than the components available for electronic weighing devices, which would probably have to adopt a nulling method to do as well. There is some evidence from the size–weight illusion that mass discrimination works by nulling, and this might, possibly, explain the .

(Published 1987)

Bibliography
• Gregory, R. L. (1968). 'Perceptual illusions and brain models'. Proceedings of the Royal Society, 171.

---

a minimum or zero value, especially of an electric current.

Previous:	nude, nuclide, nucleus
Next:	null cell, null lymphocyte, null method

An absence of information, as contrasted with zero or blank or nil, about a value.

• n. cell — called also null lymphocyte; see null cell.
• n. hypothesis — a statistical hypothesis which states that one variable has no association with another variable, or set of variables. That is, the observed results can be explained by chance alone.
• n. lymphocyte — see null cell.

For a list of words related to null, see:

• Limitations and Conditions
• Absolutes and Guarantees

---

See words rhyming with "null."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Null.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - ugyldig, intetsigende, værdiløs
n. - nul
v. tr. - gøre værdiløs

idioms:

• null and void    mortificere

Nederlands (Dutch)
ongeldig, niet-bestaand, met waarde nul, nul- (computer), nietszeggend, het cijfer 0, nietig verklaren

Français (French)
adj. - (Jur) nul, (Math) nul
n. - nullité
v. tr. - annuler, invalider

idioms:

• null and void    nul et non avenu

Deutsch (German)
n. - Null, nicht zum Text gehörendes Geheimschriftzeichen
adj. - ungültig, nicht vorhanden, Null..., leer, ausdruckslos
v. - eine Null sein

idioms:

• null and void    null und nichtig

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ο αριθμός) μηδέν, μηδενικό, ζερό
adj. - (νομ.) άκυρος, μηδενικός, (Η/Υ) κενός, άδειος

idioms:

• null and void    (νομ.) άκυρος και άνευ νομικής ισχύος

Italiano (Italian)
zero, nullo

idioms:

• null and void    senza valore legale

Português (Portuguese)
n. - ponto (m) de recepção mínima de sinal
adj. - nulo, sem importância, inútil, sem sentido, zero

idioms:

• null and void    sem validade

Русский (Russian)
нулевой, ничтожный, недействительный

idioms:

• null and void    недействительный, погашается

Español (Spanish)
adj. - nulo, inútil, de ningún valor, de valor cero
n. - cero, obra torneada o repujada en forma de cuentas unidas
v. tr. - anular, tornear o repujar en forma de cuentas

idioms:

• null and void    nulo y sin valor

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - noll
adj. - ogiltig (jur.), värdelös, tom, noll, innehållslös

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
无效力的, 无价值的, 无效的, 零, 零迅号, 空, 使无效

idioms:

• null and void    无效的, 无束缚力的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 無效力的, 無價值的, 無效的
n. - 零, 零迅號, 空
v. tr. - 使無效

idioms:

• null and void    無效的, 無束縛力的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 이롭지 않은, 특징이 없는, 존재하지 않는
n. - 영, 영도
v. tr. - 영으로 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 効力のない, 無効な, 無価値の, ゼロの

idioms:

• null and void    無効な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) لاغ, باطل (صفه) لاغي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮לא-קיים, בטל, אפסי, חסר-תוקף, ריק, חסר-אופי, שכל איבר מאיבריו הוא אפס‬
n. - ‮מכתב-דמה מוצפן‬
v. tr. - ‮ביטל, איפס‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.