emp·ty

(ĕmp′tē)

adj. emp·ti·er, emp·ti·est

a. Having nothing inside or on the surface; holding or containing nothing: an empty bag; an empty lot.

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

a. Having no occupants; not being used: an empty chair.

b. Not having an incumbent or occupant; unfilled: an empty post at the embassy.

c. Not put to purposeful use; idle: empty hours.

3. Lacking force or power: an empty threat.

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

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

6. 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.

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

emp′ti·ly adv.

emp′ti·ness n.

Synonyms: empty, vacant, blank, void, vacuous
These adjectives mean without contents that could or should be present. Empty is the broadest and can apply to what lacks contents (an empty box), occupants (an empty seat), or substance (an empty promise). Vacant has a similar range of application, including lacking an occupant (a vacant auditorium), an incumbent (a vacant position), or something useful or substantial (a vacant lot); it can also refer to what is without intelligence or expression (a vacant stare). Blank applies specifically to the absence of writing or images on a surface (a blank page; a blank screen) and can extend to a lack of awareness or understanding (a blank look). Void emphasizes the utter degree to which something is lacking, whether physical (a planet void of life) or intangible (a humdrum performance void of spirit or energy). Vacuous describes what is lacking in substance, interest, or intelligence (vacuous entertainment; a vacuous personality). See Also Synonyms at vain.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Emptiness

See Also: ABANDONMENT, ALONENESS

(I was) as hollow and empty as the spaces between the stars —Raymond Chandler
Barren as a fistful of rock —A. E. Maxwell
Barren as an iceberg of vegetation —Anon
Barren as crime —Algernon Charles Swinburne
Barren as death —John Ruskin
William Blake voiced the same thought, using ‘void’ instead of ‘barren.’
Barren as routine —G. K. Chesterton
Blank and bare and still as a polar wasteland —George Garrett
Blank as a sheet —Reynolds Price
Blank as a vandalized clock —Lorrie Moore
Blank as death —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Blank as the eyeballs of the dead —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Blank as the sun after the birth of night —Percy Bysshe Shelley
Deserted as a park bench after a snowstorm —Anon
Desolate as a summer resort in midwinter —Richard Harding Davis
Emptied like a cup of coffee —John Ashbery
The emptiness inside was like an explosion —Eleanor Clark
Emptiness so vast it yawned like the pit of hell —George Garrett
The emptiness was intense, like the stillness in a great factory when the machinery stops running —Willa Cather
Empty-armed, empty-handed as a lone winter tree —George Garrett
Empty as a barn before harvest —Erich Maria Remarque
Empty as a broken bowl —George Garrett
Empty as a canyon —Elizabeth Spencer
Empty as a church on Monday morning —Anon
Empty as a diary without entries —Anon
Empty as a dry shell on the beach —Daphne du Maurier
Empty as an air balloon —Thomas G. Fessendon
Empty as an egg basket —Eudora Welty
Empty as an office building at night —Anon
(He was … ) empty as an old bottle —F. Scott Fitzgerald
Empty as a person without a past, only present —Anon
(Lonely afternoons, days, evenings) empty as a rusty coffee can —Diane Wakoski
Empty as a waiting tomb —Louis Bromfield
Empty as death’s head —Daniel Berrigan
(Eyes) empty as knotholes in a fence —Etheridge Knight
(The campus is as) empty as space —Babs H. Deal
Empty as the beach after a snowstorm —Anon
(The shuttle after morning rush hour is near) empty, like a littered beach after tourists have all gone home —Thomas Pynchon
Faceless as a masked bandit —Anon
Feel as dead and empty as a skeleton on a desert —Robert Traver
Feel as empty as a popbottle in the street —Marge Piercy
A feeling of emptiness, as if I had cut an artery in my wrist and all the blood had drained out —Aharon Megged
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.
(The street below was) hollow as a bone —Peter Matthiessen
Hollow as a politician’s head —Charles Johnson
Hollow as skeleton eyes —Lorrie Moore
A hollow feeling inside, big as a watermelon —Jay Parini
I’m empty … like a sand bag —Tina Howe
It’s like stepping into a church in midweek: Space abounding and no one to fill it —Helen Maclnnes
Look as hollow as a ghost —William Shakespeare
People, like houses, may be taken over by spirits and inhabited by ghosts when they feel they are deserted and empty —Gerald Kersh
So empty you could fire a canon and not hit anybody —Anon
Sterile as a mule —James Morrow
Sterile as a stone —Cynthia Ozick
Void as death —William Blake
The weight of his emptiness dragged like a dead dog chained around his neck —Bernard Malamud

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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"

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.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

emptiness

noun

1. Total absence of matter:

vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void.

2. Empty, unfilled space:

barrenness, nothingness, vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void.

3. Total lack of ideas, meaning, or substance:

barrenness, blankness, hollowness, inanity, vacancy, vacuity, vacuousness.

4. A desolate sense of loss:

blankness, desolation, hollowness, vacuum, void.

Translations

فَراغ، خُلُو

tomhed

Leere

vacío

néant vide

tómleiki; tóm; innihaldsleysi

vacíovazio

praznina

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

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

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

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

emptiness

[ˈɛmptɪnɪs] n → vuoto

empty

(ˈempti) adjective

1. having nothing inside. an empty box; an empty cup.

2. unoccupied. an empty house.

3. (with of) completely without. a street quite empty of people.

4. having no practical result; (likely to be) unfulfilled. empty threats.

verb

1. to make or become empty. He emptied the jug; The cinema emptied quickly at 10.30; He emptied out his pockets.

2. to tip, pour, or fall out of a container. She emptied the milk into a pan; The rubbish emptied on to the ground.

noun

an empty bottle etc. Take the empties back to the shop.

ˈemptiness noun

ˌempty-ˈhanded adjective

carrying nothing. I went to collect my wages but returned empty-handed.

ˌempty-ˈheaded adjective

brainless. an empty-headed young girl.