What is the difference between something and nothing?
something | nothing | Related terms |
An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (colloquial, of someone or something) A quality to a moderate degree.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway, and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.}}
(colloquial, of a person) A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.
(colloquial, often with really) Somebody or something who is superlative in some way.
Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.
(degree) Somewhat; to a degree.
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
, chapter=5, title= (degree, colloquial) To a high degree.
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*
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Applied to an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.
* 1890, [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0140439234&id=IOZeJi7U4eEC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&sig=LW2P-uKmoZabe70ZKnIHIMQLXlw]
* 2003, George Angel, “Allegoady,” in Juncture, Lara Stapleton and Veronica Gonzalez edd. [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1887128913&id=qB-D32yV1VAC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&sig=9AYyYLA-MQqTgAbptreoe3VyOzQ]
* 2005, Floyd Skloot, A World of Light [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0803243189&id=TEgRGe6FiTkC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&sig=zEj4BPQ0eEFkj6LdOI8eRJlZrzE]
An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= An object whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g., from words of a song. Also used to refer to an object earlier indefinitely referred to as 'something' (pronoun sense).
* 1999, Nicholas Clapp, The Road to Ubar [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0395957869&id=3ikdzDKkQ04C&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&sig=UNimtwdgeC_w_wqGXfa4LsCDik8]
* 2004, Theron Q Dumont, The Master Mind [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0766185435&id=-n_jW7BVfawC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&sig=ou-CrIyWbKyZQ0s3q0uaJTiHdsI]
* 2004, Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0060738197&id=rKeKLf7LeXAC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&sig=uAeyLuj-HYk1dLAme_rokCWQITc]
Not any thing; no thing.
*
* , chapter=19
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= An absence of anything, including empty space, brightness, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.
(slang, in double negatives) Anything
Something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.
* Jeremy Taylor
A trivial remark (especially in the term (sweet nothings)).
A nobody (insignificant person).
(archaic) Not at all; in no way.
*
Nothing is a antonym of something.
Nothing is a related term of something.
As pronouns the difference between something and nothing
is that something is an uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing while nothing is not any thing; no thing.As adverbs the difference between something and nothing
is that something is somewhat; to a degree while nothing is not at all; in no way.As nouns the difference between something and nothing
is that something is an object whose nature is yet to be defined while nothing is something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.As an adjective something
is having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.As a verb something
is applied to an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.something
English
Pronoun
(English Pronouns)Our banks are out of control, passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.}}
Synonyms
* (unspecified thing) sth (especially in dictionaries)Derived terms
* somethingthAdjective
(-)Adverb
(-)A Cuckoo in the Nest, passage=The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.}}
Derived terms
(to a high degree) * something awful * something bad * something fierce * something good * something terribleStatistics
*Verb
(en verb)- He didn’t apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it was somethinged —vetoed, I believe she said.
- She hovers over the something somethinging and awkwardly lowers her bulk.
- “Oh how we somethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. Dear, was I ever on the stage?”
Noun
(en noun)The new masters and commanders, passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
- What was the something' the pilot saw, the ' something worth killing for?
- Moreover, in all of our experience with these sense impressions, we never lose sight of the fact that they are but incidental facts of our mental existence, and that there is a Something' Within which is really the Subject of these sense reports—a ' Something to which these reports are presented, and which receives them.
- She wiped something with a cloth, wiped at the wall shelf, and put the something on it, clinking glass.
nothing
English
Alternative forms
* (nonstandard) nuffin, nuffink, nuttin'Pronoun
(wikipedia nothing) (English Pronouns)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}
Finland spreads word on schools, passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
- I didn't see nothing. [= I didn't see anything].
Synonyms
* (not any thing) ** (standard) not a thing ** (slang) jack, nada, zip ** (vulgar slang) bugger all, jack shit, sod all (British), fuck all ** (Northern English dialect) nowt :: See * (something trifling) nothing of any consequence, nothing consequential, nothing important, nothing significant, something inconsequential, something insignificant, something of no consequence, something trifling, something unimportantAntonyms
* anything * everything * somethingNoun
(en noun)- What happened to your face?'' — ''It's nothing.
- Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings , but pursuances of old truths.
- You're nothing to me now!
