Pronunciations (11)
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/ˈzɪəɹəʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈzɪɹəʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈzɪːɹəw/
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Southern
- Standard
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/ˈzɪɹoʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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/ˈziɹoʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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/ˈzɪə.ɹəʉ/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/ˈzɪə.ɹaʉ/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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/ziː.roː/
Pronunciation notes
- India
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/dʒiː.roː/
Pronunciation notes
- India
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/siː.roː/
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ˈzɪɹ(ˌ)oʊ
Pronunciation notes
- US
Numeral
The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.
- Related words
- Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages
- Examples
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The conductor waited until the passenger count was zero.
A cheque for zero dollars and zero cents crashed the computers on division by zero.
More examples (2)
Last year, it scored 26 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index which ranks countries on a scale of zero to 100, with zero meaning “highly corrupt” and 100 signifying that a country is “very clean.”
"A zero itself is nothing, but without a zero you cannot count anything. Therefore, a zero is something, yet zero." These words of wisdom from the Dalai Lama might not have been in the minds of planners and engineers when designing new railway station platforms, but for several main line stations, zero is indeed something. Eight stations in the UK now operate a Platform 0 - from Cardiff to Kings Cross, Doncaster and Haymarket.
Noun
The numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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In unary and k-adic notation in general, zero is the empty string.
Write 0.0 to indicate a floating point number rather than the integer zero.
More examples (1)
The zero sign in American Sign Language is considered rude in some cultures.
The digit 0 in the decimal, binary, and all other base numbering systems.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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One million has six zeroes.
More examples (3)
His idea is to stand billions of ultrafine wire loops around the edge of a silicon chip — hence the name racetrack — and use electric current to slide infinitesimally small magnets up and down along each of the wires to be read and written as digital ones and zeros.
Here is the formal definition: an autobiographical number is a number N such that the first digit of N counts how many zeroes are in N, the second digit counts how many ones are in N and so on. In our example, 1210 has 1 zero, 2 ones, 1 two and 0 threes.
This effectively allows switching on and off of the flow of current, so it is either conducting or not conducting, creating the binary system of zeroes and ones used in digital computers.
Nothing, or none.
Usage- Informal
- Uncountable
- Examples
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zero-defect
The shipment was lost, so they had zero in stock.
More examples (2)
He knows zero about humour.
In the end, all of our hard work amounted to zero.
The value of a magnitude corresponding to the cardinal number zero.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The electromagnetic field does not drop all of the way to zero before a reversal.
More examples (1)
Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
The point on a scale at which numbering or measurement originates.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The temperature outside is ten degrees below zero.
A value of the independent variables of a function, for which the function is equal to zero.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The zeroes of a polynomial are its roots by the fundamental theorem of algebra.
The derivative of a continuous, differentiable function that twice crosses the axis must have a zero.
More examples (2)
The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function may all lie on the critical line.
As the next example shows, the set of zeros may well have a limit point not belonging to the domain.
The additive identity element of a monoid or greater algebraic structure, particularly a group or ring.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Since a commutative zero is the inverse of any additive identity, it must be unique when it exists.
The zero (of a ring or field) has the property that the product of the zero with any element yields the zero.
More examples (1)
The quotient ring over a maximal ideal is a field with a single zero element.
A person dismissed as unimportant.
Usage- Countable
- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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They rudely treated him like a zero.
A difference that is present at an abstract level, but not realized in the form, that is, superficially (on the surface).
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Sometimes a difference in intended meaning has only a zero to mark it, in which case the utterance may be ambiguous when context alone does not fully clarify it.
A casual misspelling of Zero ("a fighter aircraft operated by Imperial Japan during World War II").
Usage- Countable
- Historical
- Informal
- Uncountable
A setting of calibrated instruments such as a firearm, corresponding to a zero value.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A security which has a zero coupon (paying no periodic interest).
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The takeovers were financed by issuing zeroes.
Determiner
Synonym of no.
- Examples
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She showed zero respect.
More examples (1)
You have to salute Gerrard's bravery in accepting the challenge of trying to turn Rangers around given that he has zero experience in senior management. Immortality beckons if he does it.
Adjective
Of a cloud ceiling, limiting vision to 50 feet (15 meters) or less.
Usage- not-comparable
Of horizontal visibility, limited to 165 feet (50.3 meters) or less.
Usage- not-comparable
Present at an abstract level, but not realized in the surface form.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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The stem of "kobieta" with the zero ending is "kobiet".
Used in the names of foodstuffs, especially beverages, to indicate a version with no calories
Usage- not-comparable
- postpositional
Verb
To set some amount to be zero.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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They tried to zero the budget by the end of the quarter.
Results were inconsistent because an array wasn’t zeroed during initialization.
More examples (2)
Zero the fluorometer with the same solvent used in extraction.
George parked in space 34, zeroed the trip meter, closed and locked his car, then went back to the guard shack.
To disappear or make something disappear.
- Examples
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Traffic on the encrypted channels used by senior Iraqi generals had peaked and zeroed, then peaked again, and zeroed again.
They discovered the object code for the simulator that was DON, and zeroed it. DON — or his creator — was clever and had planted many copies,
More examples (1)
If I zeroed Jack, I'd get by So I'd erased him, pretended the last few months had never happened.
To adjust until the variance is reduced to an acceptably low amount.
- Examples
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The soldier took his gun to the shooting range to zero its aim.
Adjective
indicating the absence of any or all units under consideration
- Examples
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a zero score
having no measurable or otherwise determinable value
- Examples
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the goal is zero population growth
indicating an initial point or origin
of or relating to the null set (a set with no members)
Noun
a quantity of no importance; thing (object:), singular, negative pronoun; pronoun, thing, singular; quantifier: negative existential
- Broader terms
- Examples
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it looked like nothing I had ever seen before
reduced to nil all the work we had done
More examples (3)
we racked up a pathetic goose egg
it was all for naught
I didn't hear zilch about it
a mathematical element that when added to another number yields the same number
the point on a scale from which positive or negative numerical quantities can be measured
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the sight setting that will cause a projectile to hit the center of the target with no wind blowing
- Broader terms
Verb
adjust (an instrument or device) to zero value
adjust (as by firing under test conditions) the zero of (a gun)
- Synonyms
- Examples
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He zeroed in his rifle at 200 yards