Noun
1
a quantity of no importance
"it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"
"reduced to nil all the work we had done"
"we racked up a pathetic goose egg"
"it was all for naught"
"I didn't hear zilch about it"
2
A nobody: a person who is worthless in importance or character.
Verb
1
To cause to score nothing, to thoroughly defeat.
Adjective
Proper Noun
Example Sentences
"it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"
noun
"reduced to nil all the work we had done"
noun
"we racked up a pathetic goose egg"
noun
"it was all for naught"
noun
"I didn't hear zilch about it"
noun
Broader Terms (hypernyms)
Narrower Terms (hyponyms)
Origin
The word likely comes from a placeholder name used by columnist Nunnally Johnson in 1923, which was itself inspired by a character in a comedy routine. It may also be related to the rare German surname Zilch.