nothing Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a quantity of no importance
    cypher; aught; zip; nil; nada; zero; nix; cipher; zilch; goose egg; zippo; naught; null.
    • 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
  2. adverb in no respect; to no degree
    • he looks nothing like his father

WordNet

Noth"ing noun
Etymology
From no, a. + thing.
Definitions
  1. Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); -- opposed to anything and something.
    Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. Dryden.
  2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness. Shak.
  3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle.
    Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought. Is. xli. 24.
    'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end. Dryden.
  4. (Arith.) A cipher; naught.
Noth"ing adverb
Definitions
  1. In no degree; not at all; in no wise.
    Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed. Milton.
    The influence of reason in producing our passions is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed. Burke.

Webster 1913