Annullability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being capable of having a contract, marriage or legal decision declared void and without effect
2. The capacity of an agreement or union to be formally nullified and treated as if it never existed
3. Describing the state of something that can be legally cancelled or rendered invalid by an authority

Etymology: "Annullability" is a plain formation: the verb "annul" with the suffix "-ability" attached, which turns a verb into a noun meaning the quality of being able to undergo the action. So an annullable contract is one that can be annulled, and annullability is the capacity for that cancellation. The base word does the real work. "Annul" came into English from Old French "annuller", which traces back to Late Latin "annullare", built from Latin "ad-" (to) and "nullus" (none), so the root idea is reducing something to nothing. "Annul" is therefore a word about making a thing as if it never existed, and it is the legal sense of voiding an agreement or marriage that has kept it in common use. The suffix "-ability" comes from Latin "-abilis", meaning able to be or capable of being, and it attaches readily to verbs of this kind, giving pairs like "readable" and "readability" or "usable" and "usability". The result is a term that is transparent in its parts, and it is mainly found in legal and technical writing where the question of whether something can be voided matters.

Synonyms: cancellability, voidability