nugator

nugatory

Audio pronunciation

 
adjective|NOO-guh-tor-ee
 
What It Means
 
Something described as nugatory is of little or no consequence. In law, nugatory describes something (such as a statute or agreement) without operative legal effect.
 
// Most of the criticism of the film in the weeks since its release has been nugatory nonsense.
 
// This new contract renders the previous agreement nugatory.
 
See the entry >
 
Scroll down for more about nugatory
 
 
 




 
 
 
PEOPLE ARE READING
 

8 Significant Words for 'Insignificant'
 

When do we paint the town red?
 

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct?
 

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 1
 
 
 
WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE
 


 
 
The Great British Vocabulary Quiz
 
Make sure you know the difference between a loo and a lift
 
  PLAY NOW 
 
Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! TAKE ME THERE >
 
 
 
Examples of NUGATORY
 
“Public outrage, fanned by the press, did not engage with the work but focused instead on taxpayers’ money having been squandered on a worthless ‘pile of bricks.’ In fact, the purchase price of [pounds sterling] 2,297 was nugatory, but the issue was never really about price but about rejecting the new and the challenging in art.” — Art Monthly, 1 Dec. 2025
 




 
Did You Know?
 
Just because nugatory isn’t the most common word in the English language doesn’t mean it’s trifling. Rather, nugatory is literally trifling because the two words are synonymous, as in “comments too nugatory to merit attention.” Nugatory first appeared in English in the 17th century; it comes from the Latin adjective nugatorius, which can mean not only “trifling” or “frivolous” but also “futile.” This sense carried over into English as well, and so in some contexts nugatory means “ineffective” or “having no force,” as when Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson invoked “the nugatory value of the contemporary penny.” Nugatory may mean little to some, but we think it’s worth a pretty penny.