What does annul mean?
Annul is a formal verb meaning to declare something officially invalid, as if it had never existed. It is used chiefly in legal contexts: courts may annul a marriage, a contract, or even an election result when the arrangement is found to be fundamentally flawed from its inception. This distinguishes annulment from simple cancellation or termination — a divorced marriage existed and ended, whereas an annulled one is treated by the law as never having been valid in the first place. The word carries a weighty, official tone and appears rarely in casual conversation, but it is essential vocabulary for anyone reading about law, religion, or politics. Derived from the Latin "ad" (to) plus "nullus" (nothing), annul literally suggests reducing something to nothing, which captures its force precisely: to erase a legal reality retroactively.
verbTo annul something, especially a marriage or contract, is to declare it officially and legally invalid — as though it never existed.
- To declare (a marriage, contract, or other legal act) officially invalid or void.
- More generally: to abolish, cancel, or make of no effect.
"The court agreed to annul the marriage on the grounds that it had never been validly contracted."
"The church refused to annul the union despite the couple's petition."
"Parliament moved swiftly to annul the controversial decree."
When a marriage is annulled, the law doesn't just end it — it declares it never legally happened at all.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of annul
Annul comes from the Latin verb "annullare", formed from "ad-" (to) and "nullus" (none, nothing), literally meaning "to reduce to nothing." The word entered English in the late Middle Ages via Old French "anuller", and has been used in legal English since at least the early modern period. It shares this Latin root with related terms such as nullify and annulment, all built on the idea of nothingness or nonexistence.
Related word forms
How annul is actually used
Formal and legal in register; most frequently encountered in the context of marriages, contracts, and official decrees. An annulment differs from a divorce or termination in that the arrangement is treated as invalid from the outset rather than merely ended.
Easily confused with annul
"Annual" is an adjective meaning yearly or once a year, while "annul" is a verb meaning to cancel or make legally void; they share only a similar spelling.