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nugatory

/ˈn(j)uːɡətɔɹi/adjective

nugatory is an adjective meaning “Trivial, trifling or of little importance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled N-U-G-A-T-O-R-Y and has 4 syllables, and it appears about once in every 39 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does nugatory mean?

adjective

  1. 1

    Trivial, trifling or of little importance.

  2. 2

    Ineffective, invalid or futile.

  3. 3

    Having no force, inoperative, ineffectual.

    The word "necessary" is considered as controlling the whole sentence, and as limiting the right to pass laws for the execution of the granted powers to such as are indispensable, and without which the power would be nugatory.

  4. 4

    Removable from a computer program with safety, but harmless if retained.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce nugatory?

  • /ˈn(j)uːɡətɔɹi/

Nugatory has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-nugatory.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of nugatory

  • more nugatory comparative
  • most nugatory superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is nugatory?

Nugatory appears about once in every 39 million words in written English, the 191,932nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Nugatory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchinsignifiant (trivial, trifling), inefficace, non valable (ineffective, invalid)
Germanbelanglos (trivial, trifling), erfolglos, uneffektiv (ineffective, invalid)
Spanishinsignificante (trivial, trifling), ineficaz (ineffective, invalid)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does nugatory come from?

From Latin nūgātōr (“jester”) + English -y (“adjectival suffix”). Borrowed from Latin nūgātōrius, from nūgātor m (“jester”) + -ius (“suffix forming adjectives”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).