empty
containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents: an empty bottle.
having no occupant or occupants; vacant; unoccupied: an empty house.
without cargo or load: an empty wagon.
destitute of people or human activity: We walked along the empty streets of the city at night.
destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually followed by of): Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.
without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless: empty compliments; empty pleasures.
not employed in useful activity or work; idle: empty summer days.
hungry: I'm feeling rather empty—let's have lunch.
completely spent of emotion: The experience had left him with an empty heart.
to make empty; deprive of contents; discharge the contents of: to empty a bucket.
to discharge (contents): to empty the water out of a bucket.
to become empty: The room emptied rapidly after the lecture.
to discharge contents, as a river: The river empties into the sea.
Informal. something that is empty, as a box, bottle, or can: Throw the empties into the waste bin.
Origin of empty
1synonym study For empty
Other words for empty
Opposites for empty
Other words from empty
- emp·ti·a·ble, adjective
- emp·ti·er, noun
- emp·ti·ly, adverb
- emp·ti·ness, noun
- o·ver·emp·ty, adjective
- qua·si-emp·ty, adjective
- self-emp·ty·ing, adjective
- un·emp·tied, adjective
- un·emp·ty, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use empty in a sentence
While the others ordered sundaes, I emptied my pockets into the game.
Ibrahim Hijazi walked me through his barren house, emptied ahead of the demolition.
In Jerusalem Home Demolitions, the Biblical Justice of Revenge | Creede Newton | November 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTElsewhere in Liberia, entire hospitals emptied out, patients, doctors, and nurses, all fleeing in fear of Ebola.
‘He Could Have Brought Ebola Here’: Minnesota Widow on Her Husband | Michael Daly | July 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThen there is the Effie who emptied one of their bank accounts because she “liked to shop and look nice.”
He took another drink, looked at the glass, then emptied it.
Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis | Stanley Booth | June 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
And she emptied her pockets of all the letters, minus the envelopes, that Fleurette had written.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. LockeJoseph's brain emptied, fortunately; a man would not want to know that he was tacked to a chair, bleeding to death.
Taking off the lid she emptied its contents in a heap—silver and copper with one or two gold pieces intermixed—on the table.
The Garret and the Garden | R.M. BallantyneIn the nine prisons of Paris these horrors continued unabated till they were emptied of their victims.
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. AbbottWhen the guests are well emptied of theology, everyone takes his nightcap—the signal for breaking up.
Friend Mac Donald | Max O'Rell
British Dictionary definitions for empty
/ (ˈɛmptɪ) /
containing nothing
without inhabitants; vacant or unoccupied
carrying no load, passengers, etc
without purpose, substance, or value: an empty life
insincere or trivial: empty words
not expressive or vital; vacant: she has an empty look
informal hungry
(postpositive foll by of) devoid; destitute: a life empty of happiness
informal drained of energy or emotion: after the violent argument he felt very empty
maths logic (of a set or class) containing no members
philosophy logic (of a name or description) having no reference
to make or become empty
(when intr, foll by into) to discharge (contents)
(tr often foll by of) to unburden or rid (oneself): to empty oneself of emotion
an empty container, esp a bottle
Origin of empty
1Derived forms of empty
- emptiable, adjective
- emptier, noun
- emptily, adverb
- emptiness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with empty
In addition to the idioms beginning with empty
- empty calories
- empty nest
- empty suit
also see:
- glass is half full (half empty)
- running on empty
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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