an ‧ nul /əˈnʌl/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle annulled , present participle annulling ) [transitive often passive]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: annuller , from Late Latin annullare , from Latin ad- 'to' + nullus 'not any' ]
to officially state that a marriage or legal agreement no longer exists:
Their marriage was annulled last year.
—annulment noun [uncountable and countable]
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THESAURUS
▪ cancel to decide that something that was officially planned will not happen:
The teacher was ill so classes were cancelled for the day.
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I was feeling better so I cancelled my doctor’s appointment.
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They were forced to cancel the concert when the conductor became ill.
▪ call off to cancel a meeting, game, or event that you have organized. Call off is less formal than cancel and is very commonly used in everyday English:
Linda decided to call the wedding off.
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The game was called off due to heavy rain.
▪ be off if an event or activity is off, it has been cancelled because of a sudden problem or change in someone’s plans:
I’m afraid the party’s off. Nick won’t let us use his apartment.
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Myers called me yesterday to tell me that the deal was off.
▪ postpone to decide to do something at a later time, instead of the time that was officially planned:
The show has been postponed until next Saturday.
▪ shelve ( also put something on ice ) to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc although it may be considered again at some time in the future:
Plans for a new stadium have been shelved for now.
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The project had to be put on ice due to lack of funding.
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Blears called for the discussions to be put on ice until after the elections.
▪ annul formal to officially decide that a marriage, result, or agreement has no legal authority and is therefore cancelled:
The election results were annulled by the courts.
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A marriage can be annulled if there has been lack of consent.