Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Nugatory

Nugatory , adjective

[Latin nugatorius, from nugari to trifle, nugae jests, trifles.]

1.
Trifling; vain; futile; insignificant.
2.
Of no force; inoperative; ineffectual.
If all are pardoned, and pardoned as a mere act of clemency, the very substance of government is made nugatory. — I. Taylor