What does disannulling mean?
"Disannulling" is the present participle and gerund of the verb "disannul," meaning to annul something — that is, to declare a law, covenant, contract, or other formal arrangement null and void. The prefix "dis-" intensifies the sense of undoing, making the word an emphatic variant of the more common "annulling." It belongs firmly to formal, legal, and religious registers: it appears in statutes, ecclesiastical documents, and older English translations of the Bible, where covenants are said to be "disannulled." In ordinary modern usage the word has largely fallen away, replaced by simpler synonyms such as "annulling," "repealing," "revoking," or "invalidating." A reader encountering it today will usually find it in historical, theological, or legal contexts, where its slightly archaic flavour lends the text gravity. Understanding "disannulling" is useful chiefly for interpreting such documents accurately, since it signals not merely a change but a formal, authoritative cancellation of something previously in force.
verbThe present participle and gerund of "disannul" — formally annulling or declaring something, such as a law, covenant, or agreement, to be void or of no effect.
- Formally declaring something (a law, covenant, or agreement) null and void; annulling it.
"The new statute was disannulled by the courts within a year of its passage."
"The treaty's disannulling left both nations without any binding obligations."
"Parliament passed an act expressly disannulling all prior charters granted by the crown."
"Disannulling" survives today largely because translators of the King James Bible chose it in Hebrews — a legal term for tearing up a covenant that most modern readers meet nowhere else.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of disannulling
"Disannul" combines the intensive prefix "dis-" with "annul," which entered English in the late Middle Ages from Old French "anuller," itself from Latin "ad" ("to") plus "nullus" ("none"). The same Latin root "nullus" gives English words such as "null," "nullify," "annihilate" (via "nihil," "nothing"), and "nil." "Disannulling" is therefore built entirely from Latinate material and has been used in formal English since roughly the sixteenth century, finding its most famous footing in early seventeenth-century biblical translation.
Related word forms
How disannulling is actually used
Highly formal, legalistic, and archaic in register; rare outside historical, ecclesiastical, or legal texts. In contemporary English, "annulling" or "repealing" is almost always preferred.
Easily confused with disannulling
"Annulling" simply cancels or voids something, while "disannulling" is a more emphatic, now largely archaic variant meaning the same thing but stressing complete undoing.