emptiness

emp·ty  (mpt)

adj. emp·ti·er, emp·ti·est

1.

a. Holding or containing nothing.

b. Mathematics Having no elements or members; null: an empty set.

2. Having no occupants or inhabitants; vacant: an empty chair; empty desert.

3. Lacking force or power: an empty threat.

4. Lacking purpose or substance; meaningless: an empty life.

5. Not put to use; idle: empty hours.

6. Needing nourishment; hungry: "More fierce and more inexorable far/Than empty tigers or the roaring sea" (Shakespeare).

7. Devoid; destitute: empty of pity.

v. emp·tied, emp·ty·ing, emp·ties

v.tr.

1. To remove the contents of: emptied the dishwasher.

2. To transfer or pour off completely: empty the ashes into a pail.

3. To unburden; relieve: empty oneself of doubt.

v.intr.

1. To become empty: The theater emptied after the performance.

2. To discharge its contents: The river empties into a bay.

n. pl. emp·ties Informal

An empty container.

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[Middle English, from Old English mtig, vacant, unoccupied, from metta, leisure; see med- in Indo-European roots.]

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empti·ly adv.

empti·ness n.

Synonyms: empty, vacant, blank, void, vacuous, bare¹, barren
These adjectives mean without contents that could or should be present. Empty applies to what is wholly lacking contents or substance: an empty room; empty promises.
Vacant refers to what is without an occupant or incumbent, or to what is without intelligence or thought: a vacant auditorium; a vacant stare.
Blank stresses the absence of something, especially on a surface, that would convey meaning or content: blank pages.
Void applies to what is free from or completely destitute of discernible content: gibberish void of all meaning.
Vacuous describes what is as devoid of substance as a vacuum is: led a vacuous life.
Something that is bare lacks surface covering (a bare head) or detail (the bare facts); the word also denotes the condition of being stripped of contents or furnishings: a bare closet.
Barren literally and figuratively stresses lack of productivity: barren land; writing barren of insight. See Also Synonyms at vain.

Word History: In Old English Ic eom mtig could mean "I am empty," "I am unoccupied," or "I am unmarried." The sense "unoccupied, at leisure," which did not survive Old English, points to the derivation of mtig from the Old English word metta, "leisure, rest." The word metta may in turn go back to the Germanic root *mt-, meaning "ability, leisure." In any case, Old English mtig also meant "vacant," a sense that was destined to take over the meaning of the word. Empty, the Modern English descendant of Old English mtig, has come to have the sense "idle," so that one can speak of empty leisure.

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Emptiness 

See Also: ABANDONMENT, ALONENESS

1. (I was) as hollow and empty as the spaces between the stars —Raymond Chandler
2. Barren as a fistful of rock —A. E. Maxwell
3. Barren as an iceberg of vegetation —Anon
4. Barren as crime —Algernon Charles Swinburne
5. Barren as death —John Ruskin

   William Blake voiced the same thought, using ‘void’ instead of ‘barren.’

6. Barren as routine —G. K. Chesterton
7. Blank and bare and still as a polar wasteland —George Garrett
8. Blank as a sheet —Reynolds Price
9. Blank as a vandalized clock —Lorrie Moore
10. Blank as death —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
11. Blank as the eyeballs of the dead —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
12. Blank as the sun after the birth of night —Percy Bysshe Shelley
13. Deserted as a park bench after a snowstorm —Anon
14. Desolate as a summer resort in midwinter —Richard Harding Davis
15. Emptied like a cup of coffee —John Ashbery
16. The emptiness inside was like an explosion —Eleanor Clark
17. Emptiness so vast it yawned like the pit of hell —George Garrett
18. The emptiness was intense, like the stillness in a great factory when the machinery stops running —Willa Cather
19. Empty-armed, empty-handed as a lone winter tree —George Garrett
20. Empty as a barn before harvest —Erich Maria Remarque
21. Empty as a broken bowl —George Garrett
22. Empty as a canyon —Elizabeth Spencer
23. Empty as a church on Monday morning —Anon
24. Empty as a diary without entries —Anon
25. Empty as a dry shell on the beach —Daphne du Maurier
26. Empty as an air balloon —Thomas G. Fessendon
27. Empty as an egg basket —Eudora Welty
28. Empty as an office building at night —Anon
29. (He was … ) empty as an old bottle —F. Scott Fitzgerald
30. Empty as a person without a past, only present —Anon
31. (Lonely afternoons, days, evenings) empty as a rusty coffee can —Diane Wakoski
32. Empty as a waiting tomb —Louis Bromfield
33. Empty as death’s head —Daniel Berrigan
34. (Eyes) empty as knotholes in a fence —Etheridge Knight
35. (The campus is as) empty as space —Babs H. Deal
36. Empty as the beach after a snowstorm —Anon
37. (The shuttle after morning rush hour is near) empty, like a littered beach after tourists have all gone home —Thomas Pynchon
38. Faceless as a masked bandit —Anon
39. Feel as dead and empty as a skeleton on a desert —Robert Traver
40. Feel as empty as a popbottle in the street —Marge Piercy
41. A feeling of emptiness, as if I had cut an artery in my wrist and all the blood had drained out —Aharon Megged
42. Flat and empty as the palm of his hand —Helen Hudson

    In Hudson’s novel, Criminal Trespass, the comparison’s frame of reference is a flat and empty field.

43. (The street below was) hollow as a bone —Peter Matthiessen
44. Hollow as a politician’s head —Charles Johnson
45. Hollow as skeleton eyes —Lorrie Moore
46. A hollow feeling inside, big as a watermelon —Jay Parini
47. I’m empty … like a sand bag —Tina Howe
48. It’s like stepping into a church in midweek: Space abounding and no one to fill it —Helen Maclnnes
49. Look as hollow as a ghost —William Shakespeare
50. People, like houses, may be taken over by spirits and inhabited by ghosts when they feel they are deserted and empty —Gerald Kersh
51. So empty you could fire a canon and not hit anybody —Anon
52. Sterile as a mule —James Morrow
53. Sterile as a stone —Cynthia Ozick
54. Void as death —William Blake
55. The weight of his emptiness dragged like a dead dog chained around his neck —Bernard Malamud

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	emptiness - the state of containing nothing condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" blankness - the state of being blank; void; emptiness hollowness - the state of being hollow: having an empty space within vacancy - being unoccupied vacuity, vacuum - the absence of matter fullness - the condition of being filled to capacity
	2.	emptiness - having an empty stomach hunger, hungriness - a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation
	3.	emptiness - an empty area or space; "the huge desert voids"; "the emptiness of outer space"; "without their support he'll be ruling in a vacuum" vacancy, vacuum, void space - an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things); "the architect left space in front of the building"; "they stopped at an open space in the jungle"; "the space between his teeth"
	4.	emptiness - the quality of being valueless or futile; "he rejected the vanities of the world" vanity worthlessness, ineptitude - having no qualities that would render it valuable or useful; "the drill sergeant's intent was to convince all the recruits of their worthlessness"

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emptiness

noun

1. futility, banality, worthlessness, hollowness, pointlessness, meaninglessness, barrenness, senselessness, aimlessness, purposelessness, unsatisfactoriness, valuelessness suffering from feelings of emptiness and depression

2. meaninglessness, vanity, banality, frivolity, idleness, unreality, silliness, triviality, ineffectiveness, cheapness, insincerity, worthlessness, hollowness, inanity, unsubstantiality, trivialness, vainness the unsoundness and emptiness of his beliefs

3. void, gap, vacuum, empty space, nothingness, blank space, free space, vacuity She wanted a man to fill the emptiness in her life.

4. bareness, waste, desolation, destitution, blankness, barrenness, desertedness, vacantness the emptiness of the desert

5. blankness, vacancy, vacuity, impassivity, vacuousness, expressionlessness, stoniness, unintelligence, absentness, vacantness There was an emptiness about her eyes, as if she were in a state of shock.

Translations

emptiness [ˈemptɪnɪs] N

1. (= bareness, barrenness) → desolación f, vacío m
the emptiness of the desert → la desolación or el vacío del desierto

2. (= void) → vacío m
the emptiness he felt inside → el vacío que sentía en su interior
the emptiness of his life → el vacío or (frm)la vacuidad de su vida

emptiness [ˈɛmptinəs] n

(= empty space) → vide m

(emotional, spiritual) [person] → vide m; [life] → vide m

emptiness

n → Leere f, → Leerheit f; (of life etc) → Leere f

emptiness [ˈɛmptɪnɪs] n → vuoto