emptiness
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emp·ty
(ĕmp′tē)adj. emp·ti·er, emp·ti·est
1.
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.
2.
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.
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
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new 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 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" 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" 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" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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
noun2. Empty, unfilled space:
3. Total lack of ideas, meaning, or substance:
4. A desolate sense of loss:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
فَراغ، خُلُو
tomhed
tómleiki; tóm; innihaldsleysi
vacíovazio
praznina
emptiness
[ˈemptɪnɪs] N1. (= bareness, barrenness) → desolación f, vacío m
the emptiness of the desert → la desolación or el vacío del desierto
the emptiness of the desert → la desolación or el vacío del desierto
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
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
empty
(ˈempti) adjective1. 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.
verb1. 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 nounˌempty-ˈhanded adjective
carrying nothing. I went to collect my wages but returned empty-handed.
ˌempty-ˈheaded adjective brainless. an empty-headed young girl.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.