annul

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

• Rhymes: -ʌl
• IPA^(key): /əˈnʌl/

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• 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.

   Antonym: uphold

   • 1902, William James, “Lecture 2”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     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.

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

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “annul”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Luann, Lunan