Annulled
U.S. Naturalization Test (2025 Standard) glossary · English
Definition
A marriage legally declared never valid.
Annulled in plain English
When a marriage is annulled, a court declares that it was never legally valid in the first place, as if it never really happened. This is different from divorce: a divorce ends a marriage that was real, while an annulment says there was never a true marriage to begin with, often because of something like fraud or a legal problem at the start. Imagine tearing up a contract because it was never properly signed, versus canceling one that was working. This can matter on immigration forms, which ask about your full marriage history.
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