nothingness
nounEtymology From nothing + -ness.
1
Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences Usually The state of nonexistence; the condition of being nothing.
- A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:
- In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness.2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), London, page R11:
2
Usually A void; an emptiness.
3
Usually The quality of inconsequentiality; the lack of significance.
- Synonyms
- nihility
- Antonyms
- existence
- Related terms
- do-nothingness, good-for-nothingness, know-nothingness