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We convinced him quickly that the possibility of war was absolutely nil and continued our festivity. On the next day we were ordered to take the field.
Manfred von Richthofen

Meaning of "nil" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD NIL

From Latin.
info
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF NIL

nil  [nɪl] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF NIL

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Nil is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES NIL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Nil

Nil is a word commonly used to mean nothing or zero; it is one of several names for the number 0. Nil may also refer to...

Definition of nil in the English dictionary

The definition of nil in the dictionary is another word for nothing: used esp in the scoring of certain games.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE NIL

nil desperandum
nil return
Nile
Nile blue
Nile green
nilgai
nilghau
Nilgiri Hills
Nilgiris
nill
Nilo-Saharan
Nilometer
Nilotic
nilpotent

WORDS THAT END LIKE NIL

April
brasil
brazil
civil
council
detail
devil
e-mail
evil
fail
il
mail
mil
nail
oil
on the nail
retail
tail
Tamil
teil

Synonyms and antonyms of nil in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «NIL»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «nil» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of nil
duck · love · naught · nihil · none · nothing · zero · zilch · zip

Translation of «nil» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF NIL

Find out the translation of nil to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of nil from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «nil» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

cero
570 millions of speakers

English

nil
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

शून्य
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

لَا شَيْءَ
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

ноль
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

nada
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

শূন্য
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

néant
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Nihil
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Null
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Nil
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

không
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

ஒன்றுமே
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

शून्य
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

sıfır
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

zero
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

nic
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

нуль
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

zero
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

μηδέν
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

nil
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

noll
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

null
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of nil

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «NIL»

The term «nil» is very widely used and occupies the 14.199 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Very widely used
94
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «nil» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of nil
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «nil».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «NIL» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «nil» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «nil» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about nil

EXAMPLES

4 QUOTES WITH «NIL»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word nil.
1
Candace Bushnell
My decorating and renovation skills are nil - indeed, I once used a shower curtain from Pottery Barn as 'window dressing.'
2
Marc Davis
At that time, the people that were in the animated film business were mostly guys who were unsuccessful newspaper cartoonists. In other words, their ability to draw living things was practically nil.
3
Manfred von Richthofen
We convinced him quickly that the possibility of war was absolutely nil and continued our festivity. On the next day we were ordered to take the field.
4
Leigh Steinberg
Forty years ago the chances of journalists reporting - or the authorities even prosecuting - a pro athlete were practically nil.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «NIL»

Discover the use of nil in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to nil and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Nil: A Land Beyond Belief
Nul keeps Nil's great bureaucratic morass free from both ideology and idealism in his job on the deconstruction ship, the Derrida, destroying belief systems before they can infect the blank ranks of unbelievers.
James Turner, 2005
2
Nil Sorsky, the Complete Writings
Here are the writings of Nil Sorsky (+1508), an influential spiritual writer whose major contribution to Eastern Christianity was his bringing to ancient Russia the spirituality of the early Fathers and Mothers of the Desert.
Saint Nil (Sorskiĭ), George A. Maloney, 2003
3
Nil
With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that she has to find a way to beat the clock, and quickly, in this thrilling debut novel by Lynne Matson.
Lynne Matson, 2014
4
One-Nil
"The England footy team are secretly training at Lukes local ground. But how can he see them when he has to go to school. Lukes got to come up with a plan, fast, so he can meet his heroes and make his dream come true....Reading age 8
Tony Bradman, 2008
5
Lecture Notes on Nil-theta Functions
Consists of three chapters covering the following topics: foundations, bilinear forms and presentations of certain 2-step nilpotent Lie groups, discrete subgroups of the Heisenberg group, the automorphism group of the Heisenberg group, ...
Louis Auslander, 1977
6
Kinds of Parody from the Medieval to the Postmodern
This book approaches parody as a literary form that has assumed diverse forms and functions throughout history.
Nil Korkut, 2009
7
Nil Darpan, Or, the Indigo Planting Mirror
There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.
Dinabandhu Mitra, 2010
8
Nil Sapientiae Odiosius Acumine Nimio - The Significance of ...
He does not think of himself to be a wise man but he thinks himself to be clever. And this is a gift which is sometimes more important than being wise.
Claudia Effenberger, 2008
9
Topographies of Fascism: Habitus, Space, and Writing in ...
Topographies of Fascism offers the first comprehensive exploration of how Spanish fascist writing – essays, speeches, articles, propaganda materials, poems, novels, and memoirs – represented and created space from the early 1920s until ...
Nil Santianez, 2013
10
Kenya Gazette
sets- £ ' s.cts. £ s.cts. £ Is. at: _ - _ A. Games-11011 _ , - _ I - " , ' , - . ' _ Len lnolii' dinglewchsrg'es'liieidentsltoeequisition 12,911 '0 16 300 o oo Nil 13,211 0 16 Ordinary Shares ofSh. Zotaflh '100 o oo 1 Nil 100 o no i: .3 ' and-other mmwem on .

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «NIL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term nil is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Ägypten: Nil-Fähre vor Kairo gesunken – viele Tote
Kairo (Ägypten) – Drama am späten Mittwochabend nahe Kairo: Ein Partyschiff mit mehr als zwei Dutzend Menschen an Bord ist in den Fluten ... «BILD, Jul 15»
2
Why Osborne's £1m IHT exemption isn't all good news
The 'main residence nil rate band' as it is known, has added a further ten pages of legislation to the Finance Bill, and added an extra layer of ... «Professional Adviser, Jul 15»
3
The little boy who can't dine set to meet his idol Optimus Prime
"Some people just don't understand that he is nil by mouth and family members have tried to feed him and he's ended up in the ward for a week ... «Taranaki Daily News, Jul 15»
4
Wheat: imports high, exports nil
The authorities reported that two flour mills have been blacklisted for importing substandard wheat from Ukraine unfit for human consumption. «Business Recorder, Jul 15»
5
Inheritance tax relief on homes
The “main residence nil rate band” will take effect from 6 April 2017 in the sum of £100,000. This sum is set to increase by £25,000 each year ... «Lexology, Jul 15»
6
Warriors held to nil by Roosters
The Warriors have been thrashed 24-0 by the Roosters in their National Rugby League match in Sydney. The Warriors' fullback Sam Tomkins ... «Radio New Zealand, Jul 15»
7
Sri Lanka take 2/nil lead
Sri Lanka took a comfortable 2-nil lead over Palestine in a 'must win' Davis Cup by PNB Paribas group II tennis tie that began at the SLTA clay ... «nation.lk - The Nation Newspaper, Jul 15»
8
The new inheritance tax quirk that favours widows
If one died before April 2017, they would pass on their share to children within the current £325,000 “nil-rate band”. If the other died after April ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Jul 15»
9
Police Arrest Suspected Drunk Driver After Accident on SPID, Nile
A truck stopped at a red light at the intersection of SPID and Nile Drive was hit from behind by a suspected drunk driver Thursday night. «KIII TV3, Jul 15»
10
TABLE-Indian govt's surplus cash with RBI for auction nil on July 15
July 16 GOVT SURPLUS CASH BALANCE AS ON DATE FOR AUCTION (bln rupees) -- 15/07 37.55 14/07 103.41 13/07 32.50 10/07 51.27 ... «Reuters, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Nil [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/nil>. Jun 2026 ».
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