Word of the Day
Word
Nihility (n.)
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Difficulty
E — Levels range from A to J. What is my level?
Definition
Nothingness, the state of being of no account, of no importance, a thing amounting to nothing.
Details
NIHILITY is thought by 9% of adult readers to mean BLACKNESS, darkness, total absence of light. NIHILITY is equivalent to the French NIHILITE. Both come from the Latin NIHIL, nothing. The short English NIL, nothing, as in the phrase: "His influence was NIL," is a contraction of NIHIL, a Latin word now listed in many English dictionaries with the meaning nothing, a thing of no value. From the Latin NIHIL are formed other English words including NIHILISM and NIHILIST. NIHILISM has been used in metaphysics, theology, and sociology. In metaphysics it means the doctrine that nothing exists, skepticism carried to the denial of all existence, solipsism. In theology it means disbelief in religion and morality. In sociology NIHILISM is the doctrine which refuses to accept existing social organization and authority and would destroy them to substitute equal rights in land and property. NIHILISM was the former Russian program of those who believed in absolute individual liberty. A NIHILIST today is one who accepts nothing, who respects no existing social laws, recognizes no religion. NIHILITY, unlike NIHILISM, has never been used to express the tenet of a sect, but is a literary word meaning nothingness. Edgar Allan Poe uses the word in his prose tales: "Many things on earth would be NIHILITY to the inhabitants of Venus." Listen
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