annulment
(əˈnʌlmənt)
[f. annul + -ment; prob. a. Fr. anullement, though neither Littré nor Godef. has the latter in 15th c.]
1. The action of reducing to nothing or putting an end to; abolition.
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W.) iii. xxiv. (1495) 325/2 Of humylyte procedeth mortyfycacyon, and anullement of his propre wyll. 1809 Coleridge Friend vi. v. (1867) 308 No better remedy for the overweening self-complacency of modern philosophy than the annulment of its pretended originality. 1862 F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 32 Emancipation..the annulment of the last subsisting misery. |
2. The action of declaring void; invalidation.
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 107 Most impudent Annulments of the plain and express Laws and Doctrines of Christ. 1816 Edin. Rev. XXVII. 318 A letter meant as a revocation and annulment of that rescript. 1865 Daily Tel. 23 Aug., Hence the necessary annulment of the Richmond elections. |