nullity
(ˈnʌlɪtɪ)
[a. F. nullité (= It. nullita, Sp. nulidad), or med.L. nullitas: see null a. and -ity.]
1. The fact of being legally null and void; invalidity. Also (with a and pl.), an instance of this; a fact or circumstance causing invalidity. a. With reference to marriage. Also attrib.
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 1222/1 The Pope beyng minded.. to geue sentence for the inualiditie and nullitie of the kyngs first pretensed matrimonie. 1613 Sir R. Naunton in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 140 The nullity in the case of my Lord of Essex and his Lady. 1645 Milton (title-p.), Tetrachordon, Expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture which treat of Marriage or Nullities in Marriage. 1707 tr. Wks. C'tess D'Anois (1715) 114 Omitting nothing that was necessary to be done, to prevent the starting of any Nullities in my Wedlock. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 434 These disabilities..only make the marriage voidable, and not ipso facto void, until sentence of nullity be obtained. 1845 Campbell Chancellors xxxiv. (1857) II. 85 They..introduced into it words respecting the original nullity of the King's first marriage. 1865 Morn. Star 3 Feb., This was a petition for nullity of marriage on the ground of imperfect publication of the banns. 1894 Daily News 26 July 9/1 The respondent not having entered an appearance or put in any defence in the nullity suit. |
b. In general use.
| 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 675 Notwithstanding this negligence there was no nullitie of Aarons consecration. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 111 The nullitie of the former gift to be discussed als well by way of exception as action. a 1683 Owen Holy Sp. (1693) 222 There would have been a Nullity in what they did. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 84 Which inferred a nullity on all their proceedings. 1776 J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 390 You have my hearty concurrence in telling the jury the nullity of acts of parliament. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xiv. 142 The nullity of all proceedings taken in contravention of them. |
† 2. Nullification. Obs. rare.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxii. §13 Dissolutions and Nullities of things done are not onely not fauoured, but hated. Ibid. v. lxxxi. §3 A nullitie or frustration of all such acts. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 155 The next day a Declinator and Protestation was presented..against the Assembly and containing a Nullity of it. |
3. An act or thing which is null or invalid.
| 1624 Gee New Shreds Old Snare 17 The Consistories of our Bishops can doe no Acts but nullities against any of these. 1652 N. Culverwel Treat. i. vii. (1661) 49 They are not onely irregularities, but meer nullities. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 246 This the temporal courts pay no regard to, and look upon a caveat as a mere nullity. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 281 The last execution shall stand; the first being a mere nullity. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 178 The national sales, not having been confirmed by parliament, were regarded by the tribunals as nullities. 1891 Law Times XC. 462/1 The Court declared the deed a nullity. |
4. The condition of being null or nought; a state of nothingness.
| 1589 G. Harvey Pierces Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 176 Euerlasting infamie, horrible damnation, & a most hideous nullity. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 112 For where there is no essence, or a thing depriued of essence, there is negation, or nullitie. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Disc. ii. §11 Sometimes such..smaller indecencies are therefore pardoned and lessened almost to a nullity. 1715 Bentley Serm. xi. 376 The whole system of Nature must immediately..vanish into its primitive Nullity. 1791 Cowper Yardley Oak 88 Thy growth From almost nullity into a state Of matchless grandeur. 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. I. 39 Had not the hundred days afforded proof of the political nullity of the elder Bourbons? 1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma 285 The nullity of its deliverances, where..to bring it manifestly to book is impossible. |
5. † a. A nought, a cipher. Obs.
| 1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed III. 1371/1 The cipher with the nullities and marks for names of princes and councillors. 1624 Bedell Lett. xii. 161 If..you finde you haue taken manie nullities for signifying numbers,..correct the totall. |
b. A mere nothing.
| a 1591 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 448 The error..is great, but yet not such as doth make a nullity of our church. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 69 What the plausibilitie of Martin? A Nullitie; yea and a wofull Nullitie, and a piteous Nullitie. 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. i. iv. i, [I] them nigh blame of deep idolatrie That give so much to that slight nullitie. 1791 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 226 Such a mere nullity is time, to a creature to whom God gives a feeling heart. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, I. x. 287 Like many similar attempts..this predatory attack concluded in a nullity. 1860 Motley Netherl. v. (1868) I. 137 His army was shrinking to a nullity. |
c. Of persons: A nonentity.
| 1657 J. Trapp Comm. Job xxx. 2 These Sanniones, in the text were, through idleness, mear nullities in the world. 1846 Browning Lett. (1899) I. 394 Such a miserable nullity, and husk of a man. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 30 In society the most accomplished man of mere professional skill is often a nullity. |
6. Math. The number of columns of a matrix minus its rank; the dimension of the null space of a matrix or linear transformation (equal to the dimension of its domain minus that of its range).
| 1884 J. J. Sylvester in Amer. Jrnl. Math. VI. 274 The absolute zero for matrices of any order is the matrix all of whose elements are zero. It possesses so far as regards multiplication..the distinguishing property of the zero, viz. that when entering into composition with any other matrix..the product..is itself over again... This is the highest degree of nullity which any matrix can possess, and (regarded as an integer) will be called ω, the order of the matrix... In general.., if all the minors of order ω - i + 1 vanish, but the minors of order ω - i do not all vanish, the nullity will be said to be i. 1941 Birkhoff & MacLane Survey Mod. Algebra x. 268 Rank + nullity = Dimension of Domain. 1972 A. G. Howson Handbk. Terms Algebra & Anal. ix. 47 In the case of a homogeneous system, Ax = 0, the inverse image of 0, i.e. the set of solutions, is Ker(t)..which is a subspace of Fn..of dimension n - r, a number known as the nullity of t (or A). |