nothingness

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English

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Etymology

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From nothing +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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nothingness (usually uncountable, plural nothingnesses)

  1. The state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing.
    • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: [] T[homas] Miller, [] for Taylor and Hessey, [], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:
      A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
    • 2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)[1], London, page R11:
      In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness.
  2. A void; an emptiness.
  3. The quality of inconsequentiality; the lack of significance.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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