Other forms: annulled, annulling, annuls
To annul is to declare officially that something never held. Annul the marriage, the contract was annulled, seek an annulment.
The difference from ending something is that annulment says it was never valid in the first place, which is why annulment and divorce are separate remedies with different grounds. Elections and contracts can be annulled too. Note annulment; and that the word is ad- plus nullus, so to annul is to reduce to nothing.
1verbannulTo declare officially that something never held.
“The court annulled the election result after finding widespread fraud.”
annul is an official cancelling.
Latin annullare is ad plus nullus, none. Null, nullify and none come from the same nothing.
Latin
annullō — annihilate, annul
Old French
anuller
Middle English
annullen
English, today
annul
From Middle English annullen, from Old French anuller, from Latin annullō (“annihilate, annul”), from ad + nūllus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA