What's the difference between nothing and something?

Nothing


Definition:

  • (n.) Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); -- opposed to anything and something.
  • (n.) Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness.
  • (n.) A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle.
  • (n.) A cipher; naught.
  • (adv.) In no degree; not at all; in no wise.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "We examined the reachability of social networking sites from our measurement infrastructure within Turkey, and found nothing unusual.
  • (2) Northern Ireland will not be dragged back by terrorists who have nothing but misery to offer."
  • (3) But becoming that person in a traditional society can be nothing short of social suicide.
  • (4) But what they take for a witticism might very well be true; most of Ellis's novels tell more or less the same story, about the same alienated ennui, and maybe they really are nothing more than the fictionalised diaries of an unremarkably unhappy man.
  • (5) Almost nothing is known about nature and timing of the embryonic cues which induce or initiate spicule formation by these cells.
  • (6) If Queensland goes ahead and develops and dredges Abbot Point, it may all be for nothing.
  • (7) Meanwhile the Brooklyn Nets, who have been dealing with nothing but bad news since the start of the regular season, will be without Paul Pierce for 2-4 weeks, also due to a right hand fracture.
  • (8) After violence had run its bloody course, the country’s rulers conceded it had been a catastrophe that had brought nothing but “grave disorder, damage and retrogression”.
  • (9) But there was a clear penalty on Diego Costa – it is a waste of time and money to have officials by the side of the goal because normally they do nothing – and David Luiz’s elbow I didn’t see, I confess.
  • (10) The three-year-old comes into the kitchen for a drink, and as Steve opens the fridge, I can see it contains nothing apart from a half-full bottle of milk.
  • (11) It’s the same story over and over.” Children’s author Philip Ardagh , who told the room he once worked as an “unprofessional librarian” in Lewisham, said: “Closing down a library is like filing off the end of a swordfish’s nose: pointless.” 'Speak up before there's nothing left': authors rally for National Libraries Day Read more “Today proves that support for public libraries comes from all walks of life and it’s not rocket science to work out why.
  • (12) She is not: "Religion has nothing to do with spirituality."
  • (13) The prime minister said: “I am taking absolutely nothing for granted.
  • (14) We always feel like it's Hobbitshire – a green valley where nothing happens."
  • (15) She says he wants his actors to be in a "second state", instinctive, holding nothing back.
  • (16) As for gay men, there is absolutely nothing that suggests they are any less war-happy than heterosexuals.
  • (17) Like Morton, Sevigny is an actor who holds nothing back from the camera.
  • (18) Answer, citing Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This is a very British suicide.
  • (19) I’d argue, furthermore, that these preoccupations are preventing people from seeking support, as if nothing could be more the opposite of these things than admission of the need for help.
  • (20) Lion cubs fathered by Cecil, the celebrated lion shot dead in Zimbabwe , may already have been killed by a rival male lion and even if they were still alive there was nothing conservationists could do to protect them, a conservation charity has warned.

Something


Definition:

  • (n.) Anything unknown, undetermined, or not specifically designated; a certain indefinite thing; an indeterminate or unknown event; an unspecified task, work, or thing.
  • (n.) A part; a portion, more or less; an indefinite quantity or degree; a little.
  • (n.) A person or thing importance.
  • (adv.) In some degree; somewhat; to some extent; at some distance.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I ask a friend to have a stab at, “down at cafe that does us butties”, and he said: “Something to do with his ass?” “Whose arse?” He looked panicked.
  • (2) It shows that the outside world is paying attention to what we're doing; it feels like we're achieving something."
  • (3) Amid the acrimony of the failed debate on the Malaysia Agreement, something was missed or forgotten: many in the left had changed their mind.
  • (4) It is an intriguing moment: the new culture secretary, Sajid Javid, who was brought in to replace Maria Miller last month, is something of an unknown quantity.
  • (5) Mr Heine suggested: "It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki."
  • (6) The mother in Arthur Ransome's children's classic, Swallows and Amazons, is something of a cipher, but her inability to make basic decisions does mean she receives one of the finest telegrams in all literature.
  • (7) After friends heard that he was on them, Brumfield started observing something strange: “If we had people over to the Super Bowl or a holiday season party, I’d notice that my medicines would come up short, no matter how good friends they were.” Twice people broke into his house to get to the drugs.
  • (8) Michele Hanson 'The heat finally broke – I realised something had to change …' Stuart Heritage (right) with his brother in 2003.
  • (9) If we’re waiting around for the Democratic version to sail through here, or the Republican version to sail through here, all those victims who are waiting for us to do something will wait for days, months, years, forever and we won’t get anything done.” Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida is still reeling from the Orlando shooting, said he felt morally obligated to return to his constituents with results.
  • (10) "Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain," Wallace wrote at one point, "because something that's dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from."
  • (11) He was often detained and occasionally beaten when he returned to Minsk for demonstrations, but “if he thought it was professional duty to uncover something, he did that no matter what threats were made,” Kalinkina said.
  • (12) You might even arrive home with something tolerable for supper.
  • (13) When I told my friend Rob that I was coming to visit him in Rio, I suggested we try something a bit different to going to the beach every day and drinking caipirinhas until three in the morning.
  • (14) At least Depay departed having had a shot on target, something his manager will probably offer as proof United are improving.
  • (15) In saying what he did, he was not telling any frequent flyer something they didn't already know, and he was not protesting about any newly adopted measures.
  • (16) Later, Lucas, also a former party leader, strongly defended Bennett, saying it was a “bad day for Natalie” but there was also “kind of a gloating tone that strikes one as having something to do with her being a woman in there too”.
  • (17) There can’t be something, someone that could fix this and chooses not to.” Years of agnosticism and an open attitude to religious beliefs thrust under the bus, acknowledging the shame that comes from sitting down with those the world forgot.
  • (18) Over the years it has become something of a Westminster ritual.
  • (19) Women in their 20s Christina Wallace , Director, Startup Institute of New York I do think the women's movement is stalled – especially since it's just not something my generation really thinks about.
  • (20) "We have accomplished something that has never happened before," the 68-year-old said.