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néant

nothingness

noun neh-AHN Rare
Mind & Emotions Values

Also means

void

Usage Note

Néant conveys absolute emptiness or nonexistence, often with philosophical weight. The expression réduire à néant (to reduce to nothing) is common in formal and literary French. Existentialist philosophy — especially Sartre's L'Être et le Néant — gave the word particular cultural resonance in France.

Examples

"Ses efforts ont été réduits à néant."

Natural Translation

His efforts were reduced to nothing.

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