From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnothingnoth‧ing1 /ˈnʌθɪŋ/ ●●● S1 W1 pronoun 1 NONE/NOTHINGnot anything or no thing Nothing ever happens in this town. There’s nothing in this box. There was nothing else the doctors could do. He had nothing more to say. We know nothing about her family. I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. I promised to say nothing about it to anyone. We’ve heard nothing from her for weeks. There’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. ‘Do you know much about business?’ ‘Nothing at all.’ She had eaten virtually nothing at supper. There’s nothing wrong with the data. There’s nothing new about this. A brief search was made but they found nothing untoward.2 → nothing but3 → have nothing against somebody/something4 UNIMPORTANTsomething which is considered unimportant, not interesting, or not worth worrying about ‘What have you been doing?’ ‘Nothing. Just sitting here.’ There’s nothing on television tonight. ‘What did you do last weekend?’ ‘Oh, nothing much.’ Politics meant nothing (=was not important) to me for years. The meal was nothing special (=it was not unusual or interesting) – just fish with a cheese sauce.5 especially American EnglishHMNNONE/NOTHING zero SYN nil British English We beat them ten to nothing.6 → have/be nothing to do with somebody/something7 → for nothing8 no money or payment at all This service will cost you nothing. When a car has done that many miles, it’s worth nothing.9 → there’s nothing like something10 → there’s nothing in/to something11 → if nothing else12 → come to nothing13 → be nothing if not something14 → nothing doing15 → (there’s) nothing to it16 → it was nothing/think nothing of it17 → nothing of the sort/kind18 → have nothing on somebody19 → there’s nothing for it but to do something → sweet nothings at sweet1(13), → to say nothing of at say1(45), → nothing on earth at earth1(9)GRAMMAR: NegativesDon’t use nothing with another negative word such as ‘not’. Use anything. You say: I could not find anything suitable. ✗Don’t say: I could not find nothing suitable.
Examples from the Corpus
nothing• "What did you say?" "Oh, nothing."• I never said nothing about taking you swimming.• Nothing ever happens around here.• There's nothing in this box.• It's nothing, just a scratch.• The kids were complaining there was nothing to do.• I have nothing to wear to the wedding.• No, there's nothing wrong, I'm all right.nothing else• She had on socks and nothing else!• She sees him as a friend and nothing else.• When nothing else happened disappointment diluted her excitement.• If nothing else, I know him.• If nothing else, it gives an indication of the performance to be expected from a well-maintained battery.• If nothing else, that would get boring.• If nothing else the meeting serves as a useful way of getting everyone's ideas together.• I am sorry, but there's nothing else to be done.• Everyone taught or studied; there was nothing else to do.• It was a fairly preposterous starting point, but there was nothing else to go on.nothing much• "What did you do last weekend?" "Oh, nothing much."• After more than a hour nothing much had changed.• Despite the tension, nothing much happens, but there is plenty of talk.• Yet, she knows, as the unemployed assuredly know, that nothing much is going to happen quickly.• His secret: nothing much more complicated than understanding what constitutes an explanation.• I had nothing much to do before reporting to the banker at four o'clock.• And for the past 10 years they have had nothing much to do except talk.• Only two or three clowns dressed up and nothing much took place.• For the rest of the ride nothing much was said.nothingnothing2 adverb 1 → be/seem/look nothing like somebody/something2 → be nothing less than somethingOrigin nothing1 Old English nan thing, nathing “no thing” 