What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Forfeit vs Null - What's the difference?

forfeit | null |

As nouns the difference between forfeit and null

is that forfeit is a penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor while null is zero, nil; the cardinal number before einn.

As a verb forfeit

is to suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance.

As an adjective forfeit

is lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.

forfeit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor.
  • That he our deadly forfeit should release'' (John Milton, ''On the Morning of Christ's Nativity , 1629)
  • A thing forfeited; that which is taken from somebody in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, breach of contract, etc.
  • He who murders pays the forfeit of his own life.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal / Remit thy other forfeits .
  • Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine as part of a game.
  • * Goldsmith
  • Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day.
  • (obsolete, rare) Injury; wrong; mischief.
  • * Ld. Berners
  • to seek arms upon people and country that never did us any forfeit

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance
  • He forfeited his last chance of an early release from jail by repeatedly attacking another inmate.
  • To lose a contest, game, match, or other form of competition by voluntary withdrawal, by failing to attend or participate, or by violation of the rules
  • Because only nine players were present, the football team was forced to forfeit the game.
  • To be guilty of a misdeed; to be criminal; to transgress.
  • To fail to keep an obligation.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I will have the heart of him if he forfeit .

    Usage notes

    * Very rarely, forfeit is used as the past tense form and past participle (i.e., the past tense forms and the present tense form are homographs).

    Synonyms

    * (lose a contest) capitulate, surrender * (voluntarily give up) forgo, withgo

    Derived terms

    * forfeits * nonforfeited * nonforfeiting * nonforfeiture

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.
  • * Shakespeare
  • thy wealth being forfeit to the state
  • * Emerson
  • to tread the forfeit paradise
    English irregular verbs English verbs with base form identical to past participle English words not following the I before E except after C rule

    null

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A non-existent or empty value or set of values.
  • Zero]] quantity of [[expression, expressions; nothing.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • Something that has no force or meaning.
  • (computing) the ASCII or Unicode character (), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.
  • (computing) the attribute of an entity that has no valid value.
  • Since no date of birth was entered for the patient, his age is null .
  • One of the beads in nulled work.
  • (statistics) null hypothesis
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having no validity, "null and void"
  • insignificant
  • * 1924 , Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove :
  • In proportion as we descend the social scale our snobbishness fastens on to mere nothings which are perhaps no more null than the distinctions observed by the aristocracy, but, being more obscure, more peculiar to the individual, take us more by surprise.
  • absent or non-existent
  • (mathematics) of the null set
  • (mathematics) of or comprising a value of precisely zero
  • (genetics, of a mutation) causing a complete loss of gene function, amorphic.
  • Derived terms

    * nullity

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to nullify; to annul
  • (Milton)

    See also

    * nil ----