annul

From Old French anuller, from Latin annullō (“annihilate, annul”), from ad (“to”) + nūllus (“none, not any”).

• Rhymes: -ʌl
• IPA^(key): /əˈnʌl/
• Homophone: Anal (an ethnic group in India; not to be confused with anal, which is not homophonous)

annul (third-person singular simple present annuls, present participle annulling, simple past and past participle annulled)

1. (transitive) To formally revoke the validity of.
   • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 2:

     If you ask how religion thus falls on the thorns and faces death, and in the very act annuls annihilation, I cannot explain the matter, for it is religion's secret, and to understand it you must yourself have been a religious man of the extremer type.

2. (transitive) To dissolve (a marital union) on the grounds that it is not valid.

• annulment

• (formally revoke the validity of): make or render null and void, null, nullify
• (dissolve (a marital union)): dissolve

• “annul” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

• Luann