Zero vs. Nothing — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Zero and Nothing
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Compare with Definitions
Zero
The numerical symbol 0; a cipher.
Nothing
"Nothing", used as a pronoun subject, is the absence of a something or particular thing that one might expect or desire to be present ("We found nothing", "Nothing was there") or the inactivity of a thing or things that are usually or could be active ("Nothing moved", "Nothing happened"). As a predicate or complement "nothing" is the absence of meaning, value, worth, relevance, standing, or significance ("It is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing"; "The affair meant nothing"; "I'm nothing in their eyes").
Zero
The identity element for addition.
Nothing
Not anything; no single thing
I said nothing
They found nothing wrong
There's nothing you can do
Zero
A cardinal number indicating the absence of any or all units under consideration.
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Nothing
Having no prospect of progress; of no value
He had a series of nothing jobs
Zero
An ordinal number indicating an initial point or origin.
Nothing
Not at all
He looks nothing like the others
A man who cared nothing for her
Zero
An argument at which the value of a function vanishes.
Nothing
Something that has no existence.
Zero
The temperature indicated by the numeral 0 on a thermometer.
Nothing
Something that has no quantitative value; zero
A score of two to nothing.
Zero
A sight setting that enables a firearm to shoot on target.
Nothing
One that has no substance or importance; a nonentity
"A nothing is a dreadful thing to hold onto" (Edna O'Brien).
Zero
(Informal) One having no influence or importance; a nonentity
A manager who was a total zero.
Nothing
Insignificant or worthless
"the utterly nothing role of a wealthy suitor" (Bosley Crowther).
Zero
The lowest point
His prospects were approaching zero.
Nothing
In no way or degree; not at all
She looks nothing like her sister.
Zero
(Informal) Nothing; nil
Today I accomplished zero.
Nothing
Not any thing; no thing.
Zero
Of, relating to, or being zero.
Nothing
An absence of anything, including empty space, brightness, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.
Zero
Having no measurable or otherwise determinable value.
Nothing
Something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.
- What happened to your face?
- It's nothing.
- It's nothing.
Zero
(Informal) Not any; no
"The town has ... practically no opportunities for amusement, zero culture" (Robert M. Adams).
Nothing
A trivial remark especially in the term sweet nothings.
Zero
Designating a ceiling not more than 16 meters (52 feet) high.
Nothing
A nobody insignificant person.
Zero
Limited in horizontal visibility to no more than 55 meters (180 feet).
Nothing
(archaic) Not at all; in no way.
Zero
(Linguistics) Of or relating to a morpheme that is expected by an established, regular paradigm but has no spoken or written form. Moose has a zero plural; that is, its plural is moose.
Nothing
Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); - opposed to anything and something.
Yet had his aspect nothing of severe.
Zero
To adjust (an instrument or a device) to zero value.
Nothing
Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness.
Zero
The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.
The conductor waited until the passenger count was zero.
A cheque for zero dollars and zero cents crashed the computers on division by zero.
Nothing
A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle.
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought.
'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend,This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end.
Zero
The numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero.
In unary and k-adic notation in general, zero is the empty string.
Write 0.0 to indicate a floating point number rather than the integer zero.
The zero sign in American Sign Language is considered rude in some cultures.
Nothing
A cipher; naught.
Zero
The digit 0 in the decimal, binary, and all other base numbering systems.
One million has six zeroes.
Nothing
In no degree; not at all; in no wise.
Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed.
The influence of reason in producing our passions is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed.
Zero
Nothing, or none.
The shipment was lost, so they had zero in stock.
He knows zero about humour.
In the end, all of our hard work amounted to zero.
Nothing
A quantity of no importance;
It looked like nothing I had ever seen before
Reduced to nil all the work we had done
We racked up a pathetic goose egg
It was all for naught
I didn't hear zilch about it
Zero
The value of a magnitude corresponding to the cardinal number zero.
The electromagnetic field does not drop all of the way to zero before a reversal.
Nothing
A nonexistent thing
Zero
The point on a scale at which numbering or measurement originates.
The temperature outside is ten degrees below zero.
Nothing
In no way; to no degree;
He looks nothing like his father
Zero
(mathematics) A value of the independent variables of a function, for which the function is equal to zero.
The zeroes of a polynomial are its roots by the fundamental theorem of algebra.
The derivative of a continuous, differentiable function that twice crosses the axis must have a zero.
The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function may all lie on the critical line.
Zero
The additive identity element of a monoid or greater algebraic structure, particularly a group or ring.
Since a commutative zero is the inverse of any additive identity, it must be unique when it exists.
The zero (of a ring or field) has the property that the product of the zero with any element yields the zero.
The quotient ring over a maximal ideal is a field with a single zero element.
Zero
(slang) A person of little or no importance.
They rudely treated him like a zero.
Zero
(military) A Mitsubishi A6M Zero, a long range fighter aircraft operated by the Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945.
Zero
A setting of calibrated instruments such as a firearm, corresponding to a zero value.
Zero
(finance) A security which has a zero coupon (paying no periodic interest).
The takeovers were financed by issuing zeroes.
Zero
(informal) No, not any.
She showed zero respect.
Zero
(meteorology) Of a cloud ceiling, limiting vision to 50 feet (15 meters) or less.
Zero
(meteorology) Of horizontal visibility, limited to 165 feet (50.3 meters) or less.
Zero
(linguistics) Present at an abstract level, but not realized in the surface form.
The stem of "kobieta" with the zero ending is "kobiet".
Zero
(transitive) To set a measuring instrument to zero; to calibrate an instrument scale to valid zero.
Zero the fluorometer with the same solvent used in extraction.
George parked in space 34, zeroed the trip meter, closed and locked his car, then went back to the guard shack.
Zero
To change a memory location or range to values of zero; to set a variable in a computer program to zero.
Results were inconsistent because an array wasn’t zeroed during initialization.
Zero
(transitive) To cause or set some value or amount to be zero.
They tried to zero the budget by the end of the quarter.
The bill was over $400, but the server zeroed it out as a gesture of gratitude.
Zero
(transitive) To eliminate; to delete; to overwrite with zeros.
Zero
(intransitive) To disappear.
Zero
A cipher; nothing; naught.
Zero
The point from which the graduation of a scale, as of a thermometer, commences.
Zero
Fig.: The lowest point; the point of exhaustion; as, his patience had nearly reached zero.
Zero
A quantity of no importance;
It looked like nothing I had ever seen before
Reduced to nil all the work we had done
We racked up a pathetic goose egg
It was all for naught
I didn't hear zilch about it
Zero
A mathematical element that when added to another number yields the same number
Zero
The quantity that registers a reading of zero on a scale
Zero
Adjust (an instrument or device) to zero value
Zero
Adjust (as by firing under test conditions) the zero of (a gun);
He zeroed in his rifle at 200 yards
Zero
Indicating the absence of any or all units under consideration;
A zero score
Zero
Indicating an initial point or origin
Zero
Of or relating to the null set (a set with no members)
Zero
Having no measurable or otherwise determinable value;
The goal is zero population growth
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