VOID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does void mean? 

• VOID (noun)
  The noun VOID has 2 senses:

1. the state of nonexistence

2. an empty area or space

  Familiarity information: VOID used as a noun is rare.

• VOID (adjective)
  The adjective VOID has 2 senses:

1. lacking any legal or binding force

2. containing nothing

  Familiarity information: VOID used as an adjective is rare.

• VOID (verb)
  The verb VOID has 4 senses:

1. declare invalid

2. clear (a room, house, place) of occupants or empty or clear (a place or receptacle) of something

3. take away the legal force of or render ineffective

4. excrete or discharge from the body

  Familiarity information: VOID used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VOID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of nonexistence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

nihility; nothingness; nullity; void

Hypernyms ("void" is a kind of...):

nonentity; nonexistence (the state of not existing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "void"):

thin air (nowhere to be found in a giant void)

Derivation:

void (declare invalid)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An empty area or space

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

emptiness; vacancy; vacuum; void

Context example:

without their support he'll be ruling in a vacuum

Hypernyms ("void" is a kind of...):

space (an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things))

Derivation:

void (clear (a room, house, place) of occupants or empty or clear (a place or receptacle) of something)

void (containing nothing)

• VOID (adjective)

Comparative: voider   
Superlative: voidest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking any legal or binding force

Synonyms:

null; void

Context example:

null and void

Similar:

invalid (having no cogency or legal force)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Containing nothing

Context example:

the earth was without form, and void

Similar:

empty (holding or containing nothing)

Derivation:

void (an empty area or space)

• VOID (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they void    ... he / she / it voids   
Past simple: voided   
Past participle: voided   
-ing form: voiding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Declare invalid

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

annul; avoid; invalidate; nullify; quash; void

Context example:

void a plea

Hypernyms (to "void" is one way to...):

cancel; strike down (declare null and void; make ineffective)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "void"):

set aside (annul (a legal decision))

break (invalidate by judicial action)

stet (printing: cancel, as of a correction or deletion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

void (the state of nonexistence)

voidable (capable of being rescinded or voided)

voider (an official who can invalidate or nullify)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Clear (a room, house, place) of occupants or empty or clear (a place or receptacle) of something

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The concert hall was voided of the audience

Hypernyms (to "void" is one way to...):

empty (make void or empty of contents)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

void (an empty area or space)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take away the legal force of or render ineffective

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

invalidate; vitiate; void

Context example:

invalidate a contract

Hypernyms (to "void" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

voidable (capable of being rescinded or voided)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Excrete or discharge from the body

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

empty; evacuate; void

Hypernyms (to "void" is one way to...):

egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "void"):

suction (empty or clean (a body cavity) by the force of suction)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

voidance (the act of removing the contents of something)

voider (a person who defecates)

voiding (the bodily process of discharging waste matter)

 Context examples 

I ran out into the garden: it was void.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He concentrated upon that face; all else about him was a whirling void.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

You feel, I suppose, that in losing Isabella, you lose half yourself: you feel a void in your heart which nothing else can occupy.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I asked, gazing into the dark, motionless void.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It manifested itself to him as a void in his being—a hungry, aching, yearning void that clamoured to be filled.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“I appeal to the referee! The fight is null and void.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The study shows that this plasma void behind Phobos may create a situation where astronauts and rovers build up significant electric charges.

(Solar Eruptions Could Electrify Martian Moons, NASA)

The sparkling points of light flashed past me in an interminable stream, as though the whole sidereal system were dropping into the void.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Your retrospections must be so totally void of reproach, that the contentment arising from them is not of philosophy, but, what is much better, of innocence.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)