Other forms: annulments
An annulment is an official declaration that a marriage never held. Seek an annulment, granted an annulment, a church annulment.
It differs from divorce in what it says: a divorce ends a valid marriage and an annulment declares there was never a valid one. The grounds are narrow — force, deception, an existing marriage — and it matters most where divorce is not recognised.
1nounannulmentAn official declaration that a marriage never held.
“The couple were granted an annulment because he had lied about already being married.”
annulment is a legal declaration.
From annul, from Latin annullare, to make into nothing — ad plus nullus, none.
Latin
annūllō
Middle French
annuller
Middle English
anullement
English, today
annulment
Built from
Recorded since the 15th century (sense destruction); from Middle English anullement, partly from annullen (from Middle French annuller, from Latin annūllō, from ad (“to”) + nūllus (“not any, nothing”) + verbal ending -ō) + -ment (“means to”) (from Latin -mentum) and partly from Middle French annullement. by surface analysis, annul + -ment.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA