NUGATORY Synonyms: 92 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'nugatory' distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of nugatory are empty , hollow , idle , otiose , and vain . While all these words mean "being without worth or significance," nugatory suggests triviality or insignificance. // a monarch with nugatory powers

Q: How do 'empty' and 'hollow' relate to one another, in the sense of 'nugatory'?

Both empty and hollow suggest a deceiving lack of real substance or soundness or genuineness. // an empty attempt at reconciliation // a hollow victory

Q: In what contexts can 'idle' take the place of 'nugatory'?

While in some cases nearly identical to nugatory , idle suggests being incapable of worthwhile use or effect. // idle speculations

Q: When is it sensible to use 'otiose' instead of 'nugatory'?

The synonyms otiose and nugatory are sometimes interchangeable, but otiose suggests that something serves no purpose and is either an encumbrance or a superfluity. // a film without a single otiose scene

Q: When would 'vain' be a good substitute for 'nugatory'?

In some situations, the words vain and nugatory are roughly equivalent. However, vain implies either absolute or relative absence of value. // vain promises

nugatory

adjective

ˈnü-gə-ˌtȯr-ē

Definition of nugatory next

as in null

having no legal or binding force the congressional resolution has symbolic value only, as it relates to a matter governed by the states and is thus nugatory

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in minor

lacking importance the book is entertaining, but its contributions to Shakespearean scholarship are nugatory

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word nugatory distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of nugatory are empty, hollow, idle, otiose, and vain. While all these words mean "being without worth or significance," nugatory suggests triviality or insignificance.

a monarch with nugatory powers

How do empty and hollow relate to one another, in the sense of nugatory?

Both empty and hollow suggest a deceiving lack of real substance or soundness or genuineness.

an empty attempt at reconciliation

a hollow victory

In what contexts can idle take the place of nugatory?

While in some cases nearly identical to nugatory, idle suggests being incapable of worthwhile use or effect.

idle speculations

When is it sensible to use otiose instead of nugatory?

The synonyms otiose and nugatory are sometimes interchangeable, but otiose suggests that something serves no purpose and is either an encumbrance or a superfluity.

a film without a single otiose scene

When would vain be a good substitute for nugatory?

In some situations, the words vain and nugatory are roughly equivalent. However, vain implies either absolute or relative absence of value.

vain promises

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of nugatory Women directors abound in the S&S list: Two Akermans, two Agnès Vardas (none by her husband Jacques Demy, a superior artist), a nugatory Jane Campion soap opera, Vera Chitilová’s obscure Czech feminist screed, etc. —

Armond White, National Review, 7 Dec. 2022 But the benefits to Russia longer term could be nugatory. —

W. James Antle Iii, The Week, 4 Mar. 2022 It could be used to rationalize stealing the pennies from a dead man’s eyes, true, even considering the nugatory value of the contemporary penny. —

Marilynne Robinson, The New York Review of Books, 27 May 2020 Yet all of these questions seem, increasingly, merely nostalgic, nugatory, in the face of the dissolution of the common solidarity of principles that had once made the liberation happen. —

Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 June 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nugatory

Adjective

According to the sages of Wall Street, the legacy cable/satellite/telco-TV bundle is as dead as the Diplodocus, although there are still an awful lot of customers banging around in that null set.

— Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 10 Jan. 2025
Or at least Eren couldn’t, and his conclusion ably demonstrated the scientific value of null results.

— Ars Technica, Ars Technica, 2 Jan. 2025