''void'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''void'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125162428-00-⌔

void - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

void (not comparable)

• Containing nothing; empty; not occupied or filled.
  • ✤ Synonyms: vacant, unfilled; see also Thesaurus: empty
  • ✤ Today’s youth’s brains are sucked void of common sense.
  • ✤ I’ll get me to a place more void.¹
  • ✤ And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and darkeneſſe was vpon the face of the deepe: and the Spirit of God mooued vpon the face of the waters.²
  • ✤ I’ll chain him in my study, that, at void hours,/I may run over the story of his country.³
• Having no incumbent; unoccupied; said of offices etc.
  • ✤ *divers great offices that had been long void *⁴
• (with of) Being without; destitute; devoid.
  • ✤ Synonyms: bereft of, destitute of; see also Thesaurus: lacking
  • ✤ Suppoſe they be in number infinit,
    Yet being voyd of Martiall diſcipline,
    All running headlong after greedie ſpoiles: […]
    Their careleſſe ſwords ſhal lanch their fellows throats
    And make vs triumph in their ouerthrow.⁵
  • ✤ He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor.⁶
  • ✤ I envy not in any moods
    ⁠The captive void of noble rage,
    ⁠The linnet born within the cage,
    That never knew the summer woods: […]⁷
• Not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain.
  • ✤ Synonyms: pointless, useless; see also Thesaurus: futile
  • ✤ [My word] shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.⁸
  • ✤ I will make void the counsel of Judah.⁹
• Of no legal force or effect, incapable of confirmation or ratification.
  • ✤ null and void
  • ✤ Taiwan’s government says that as the island has never been ruled by the People’s Republic of China, its sovereignty claims are void.¹⁰
• Containing no immaterial quality; destitute of mind or soul.
  • ✤ And senseless words she gave, and sounding strain,/But senseless, lifeless! idol void and vain!¹¹
• (programming) Of a function or method, that does not return a value; being a procedure rather than a function.
  • ✤ In particular, the roll method is void — it has no return value.¹²
  • ✤ The return value can safely be ignored if it is a void function.¹³
• (bridge) Having no cards in a particular suit.

Noun

void (plural voids)

• An empty space; a vacuum.
  • ✤ Nobody has crossed the void since one man died trying three hundred years ago; it’s high time we had another go.
  • ✤ Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our defence,/And fills up all the mighty void of Sense.¹⁴
• (astronomy) An extended region of space containing no galaxies.
• (materials science) A collection of adjacent vacancies inside a crystal lattice.
• (fluid mechanics) A pocket of vapour inside a fluid flow, created by cavitation.
• (construction) An empty space between floors or walls, including false separations and planned gaps between a building and its facade.
• (Internet slang, humorous, endearing) A black cat.
  • ✤ Antonym: (a white cat) cloud
  • ✤ My little void is so sweet sometimes.
• An empty place; a location that has nothing useful.
  • ✤ From the logistics hub, the spoil will be taken by rail to Barrington in Cambridgeshire, Cliffe in Kent, and Rugby in Warwickshire. It will be used to fill voids at these locations which will then be used for housing developments.¹⁵
• (bridge) The lack of cards in a particular suit.
  • ✤ Coordinate terms: singleton, doubleton
• A cavity or empty space caused by water erosion.
  • ✤ A hidden void caused by a partially buried pipe being damaged by a tamper during routine maintenance led to the derailment of a passenger train. […] The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) reported that a “large void” was found in the embankment, but had remained hidden until the train travelled over it.¹⁶
• (medicine, urology) An instance of urination.

Verb

void (third-person singular simple present voids, present participle voiding, simple past and past participle voided)

• (transitive) To make invalid or worthless.
  • ✤ Near-synonym: nullify
  • ✤ He voided the check and returned it.
  • ✤ Opening this subassembly will void the warranty; there are no user-serviceable parts inside it.
  • ✤ It was become a practice […] to void the security that was at any time given for money so borrowed.¹⁷
  • ✤ after they had voided the obligation of the oath he had taken¹⁸
• (transitive, medicine) Synonym of empty (verb).
  • ✤ * void one’s bladder*
  • ✤ * void one’s bowels*
• To throw or send out; to evacuate; to emit; to discharge.
  • ✤ to void excrement
  • ✤ You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur¹⁹
  • ✤ With shovel, like a fury, voided out/The earth and scattered bones.²⁰
  • ✤ a watchful application of mind in voiding prejudices²¹
• (intransitive, obsolete) To withdraw; to depart.
  • ✤ BY than come in to the feld kynge Ban as fyers as a lyon […]/Ha a said kyng Lot we must be discomfyte/for yonder I see the moste valyaunt knyght of the world/and the man of the most renoume/for suche ij bretheren as is kyng Ban & kyng bors ar not lyuynge/wherfore we must nedes voyde or deye (please add an English translation of this quotation)²²
• ✤ (please add an English translation of this quotation)
• (transitive, obsolete) To remove the contents of; to make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave.
  • ✤ to void a table
  • ✤ If they will fight with us, bid them come down,/Or void the field.²³

Noun

void (plural voids)

• (now rare, historical) A voidee. [from 15th c.]
  • ✤ Late on the final evening, as the customary ‘ void ’ – spiced wine and sweetmeats – was served, more elaborate disguisings in the great hall culminated in the release of a flock of white doves.²⁴

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vɔɪd/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɔɪd
• Hyphenation: void

Etymology 1

From Middle English voide, voyde, from Old French vuit, voide, vuide (modern vide), in turn from Vulgar Latin ﹡vocitum, ultimately from Latin vacuus.

Etymology 2

Alteration of voidee.

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]: ↩

2. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 1:2, column 1: ↩

3. c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman ↩

4. 1625, Francis[Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], →OCLC: ↩

5. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii: ↩

6. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:12: ↩

7. 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 44: ↩

8. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 55:11: ↩

9. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremy 19:7: ↩

10. 2022 September 21, Martin Pollard, Ben Blanchard, “China willing to make utmost effort for peaceful ‘reunification’ with Taiwan”, in Michael Perry, editor, Reuters ‎${}^{[1]}$, archived from the original on 21 September 2022, Asia Pacific‎${}^{[2]}$: ↩

11. 1728, Alexander Pope, “Book II”, in The Dunciad; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 231: ↩

12. 2005, Craig Larman, Applying UML and patterns: ↩

13. 2007, Andrew Krause, Foundations of GTK+ Development: ↩

14. 1711, Alexander Pope, “Part II”, in An Essay on Criticism, lines 9–10; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 70: ↩

15. 2022 December 14, Paul Stephen, “HS2’s Dorothy starts to dig second tunnel bore”, in RAIL, number 972, page 23: ↩

16. 2025 February 5, “Network News: “Large void ” caused by damaged pipe led to Class 195 derailment”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 18: ↩

17. 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon,, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the[Sheldonian] Theater: ↩

18. a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume, London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC: ↩

19. c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC,: ↩

20. 1612, John Webster, The White Devil: ↩

21. a. 1692, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance: ↩

22. 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xvj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I: ↩

23. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC,: ↩

24. 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 68: ↩

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