evacuate
Americanverb (used with object)
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evacuates,
present (3rd person singular)
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evacuated,
past participle, past
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evacuating
present participle
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to leave empty; vacate.
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to remove (persons or things) from a place, as a dangerous place or disaster area, for reasons of safety or protection.
to evacuate the inhabitants of towns in the path of a flood.
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to remove persons from (a city, town, building, area, etc.) for reasons of safety.
to evacuate the embassy after a bomb threat.
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Military.
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to remove (troops, wounded soldiers, civilians, etc.) from a war zone, combat area, etc.
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to withdraw from or quit (a town, fort, etc., that has been occupied).
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Physiology. to discharge or eject as through the excretory passages, especially from the bowels.
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to deprive.
Fear evacuated their minds of reason.
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to produce a vacuum in.
verb
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(also intr) to withdraw or cause to withdraw from (a place of danger) to a place of greater safety
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to make empty by removing the contents of
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(also intr) physiol
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to eliminate or excrete (faeces); defecate
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to discharge (any waste product) from (a part of the body)
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(tr) to create a vacuum in (a bulb, flask, reaction vessel, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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evacuatesimple
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evacuatessimple
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have evacuatedperfect
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has evacuatedperfect
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am evacuatingprogressive
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are evacuatingprogressive
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is evacuatingprogressive
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have been evacuatingperfect progressive
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has been evacuatingperfect progressive
Past
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evacuatedsimple
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had evacuatedperfect
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was evacuatingprogressive
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were evacuatingprogressive
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had been evacuatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of evacuate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin ēvacuātus “emptied out” (past participle of ēvacuāre, equivalent to ē- + vacuāre ); see origin at e- 1, vacuum, -ate 1
Explanation
To evacuate is to flee, like how people leave an area when a hurricane is coming. It also means to empty something completely. If you have to evacuate your home, something horrible is probably happening, like a natural disaster. People evacuate when something like a tornado or act of terrorism makes their homes unsafe. To evacuate also means to empty completely, in the bathroom-oriented sense of evacuating (emptying) your bowels. Similarly, if a chemist empties and therefore creates a vacuum in a flask, she has evacuated the flask. When you evacuate, you clear out.
Vocabulary lists containing evacuate
May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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Zilch, Zip, Nada: Words For Nothing
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There's No There There: Synonyms for "Empty"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Residents were ordered to evacuate two nearby villages as the flames consumed a third of the High Fens, with local officials warning the fire - which had been burning since Friday - could reach homes.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Remote-piloted drones help to deliver supplies and evacuate the wounded, rescuing servicemen, Ukraine’s most valuable resource, but they remain labor intensive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
"Border Police forces evacuated the tent and are working to evacuate the civilians who were staying there. The incident is still ongoing," the IDF stated.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The ship was hit again as rescuers arrived to evacuate the crew.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The federal government came up with $42 million to evacuate the town.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
But in France, Marielle Mourgeon was among 4,000 people forced to cut holidays short in the seaside village of Lacanau, near Bordeaux, after authorities ordered camping sites evacuates as a precaution.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
They handed her over to the “White Angels,” a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front line, who then took her to a shelter for evacuees and contacted her relatives.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
Vlad Mahovsky, a volunteer who evacuates civilians, showed the BBC a message from a resident a few days ago.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024
Extreme weather in March left at least 13 people dead and tens of thousands had to evacuates in Queensland and New South Wales, with town centres submerged, homes washed away and power cut.
From Reuters ● Sep. 17, 2022
August 18th.—Suchet, having blown up fortifications of Tarragona, evacuates Valentia.
From Napoleon's Letters to Josephine by Henry Foljambe Hall
Some 1,000 people from 18 different villages and settlements remain evacuated, though weather forecasts call for some welcome light rain and lower temperatures.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Some 1,000 people from 18 different villages and settlements remain evacuated, though weather forecasts call for some welcome light rain and lower temperature.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Around 1,200 residents and tourists were evacuated, while 10 people were in intensive care in hospital, the prime minister said.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
In another case last week, a sailor jumped off the ship and spent about an hour in the water before he was rescued and medically evacuated from the Lincoln.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
Were they evacuated to the Capitol because of her father’s position, or left to the flames?
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
"There is a risk that the fire could reach homes, but we are deploying all available resources to protect them," he said, with a nearby gymnasium opened to accommodate those evacuating their homes.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Zaidan said that about 30 Israeli military vehicles and engineering teams entered the village Monday evening, evacuating residents of 30 houses surrounding Ramadan's home before the demolition.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
As they were driving away when evacuating, they could see on their app that there were firemen with hoses walking around.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Skytraders carried out a similar mission in March 2020, when the US requested help evacuating a member of the US Antarctic Program also based in McMurdo, although temperatures were slightly warmer at -30°C.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
“Some human must’ve been evacuating and they couldn’t take their pups with them!”
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
