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empty

[emp-tee]
See more synonyms for empty on Thesaurus.com
adjective, emp·ti·er, emp·ti·est.
  1. containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents: an empty bottle.
  2. vacant; unoccupied: an empty house.
  3. without cargo or load: an empty wagon.
  4. destitute of people or human activity: We walked along the empty streets of the city at night.
  5. destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually followed by of): Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.
  6. without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless: empty compliments; empty pleasures.
  7. not employed in useful activity or work; idle: empty summer days.
  8. Mathematics. (of a set) containing no elements; null; void.
  9. hungry: I'm feeling rather empty—let's have lunch.
  10. without knowledge or sense; frivolous; foolish: an empty head.
  11. completely spent of emotion: The experience had left him with an empty heart.
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verb (used with object), emp·tied, emp·ty·ing.
  1. to make empty; deprive of contents; discharge the contents of: to empty a bucket.
  2. to discharge (contents): to empty the water out of a bucket.
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verb (used without object), emp·tied, emp·ty·ing.
  1. to become empty: The room emptied rapidly after the lecture.
  2. to discharge contents, as a river: The river empties into the sea.
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noun, plural emp·ties.
  1. Informal. something that is empty, as a box, bottle, or can: Throw the empties into the waste bin.
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Origin of empty

before 900; Middle English (with intrusive -p-); Old English ǣmettig vacant (ǣmett(a) leisure (ǣ- a-3 + Germanic *mōtithō accommodation; cf. must1, meet1) + -ig -y1)
Related formsemp·ti·a·ble, adjectiveemp·ti·er, nounemp·ti·ly, adverbemp·ti·ness, nouno·ver·emp·ty, adjectivequa·si-emp·ty, adjectiveself-emp·ti·ness, nounself-emp·ty·ing, adjectiveun·emp·tied, adjectiveun·emp·ty, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for empty on Thesaurus.com
1. vacuous. Empty, vacant, blank, void denote absence of content or contents. Empty means without appropriate or accustomed contents: an empty refrigerator. Vacant is usually applied to that which is temporarily unoccupied: a vacant chair; three vacant apartments. Blank applies to surfaces free from any marks or lacking appropriate markings, openings, etc.: blank paper; a blank wall. Void emphasizes completely unfilled space with vague, unspecified, or no boundaries: void and without form. 6. delusive, vain. 12. unload, unburden.

Antonyms

1. full.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for emptily

Historical Examples

  • He looked into it with sharp scrutiny, and tapped it emptily on his open palm.

    The Turtles of Tasman

    Jack London

  • He's a curiously wrought cabinet full of shells and other trumpery, which were much better quite empty than so emptily filled.

    History of English Humour, Vol. 2 (of 2)

    Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange

  • Plan after plan was brought forward and set aside for this reason or for that, till at length they stared at each other emptily.

    The Lady Of Blossholme

    H. Rider Haggard

  • To us it seems far out of focus and expressed about as emptily and unhappily as possible.

    The Color Line

    William Benjamin Smith

  • And then he emptily talks of the "magnificent sweep of my eloquence," and my "oratoric power."

    Apologia pro Vita Sua

    John Henry Newman

British Dictionary definitions for emptily

empty

adjective -tier or -tiest
  1. containing nothing
  2. without inhabitants; vacant or unoccupied
  3. carrying no load, passengers, etc
  4. without purpose, substance, or valuean empty life
  5. insincere or trivialempty words
  6. not expressive or vital; vacantshe has an empty look
  7. informal hungry
  8. (postpositive foll by of) devoid; destitutea life empty of happiness
  9. informal drained of energy or emotionafter the violent argument he felt very empty
  10. maths logic (of a set or class) containing no members
  11. philosophy logic (of a name or description) having no reference
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verb -ties, -tying or -tied
  1. to make or become empty
  2. (when intr, foll by into) to discharge (contents)
  3. (tr often foll by of) to unburden or rid (oneself)to empty oneself of emotion
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noun plural -ties
  1. an empty container, esp a bottle
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Derived Formsemptiable, adjectiveemptier, nounemptily, adverbemptiness, noun

Word Origin

Old English ǣmtig, from æmetta free time, from æ- without + -metta, from mōtan to be obliged to; see must 1
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

Word Origin and History for emptily

empty

adj.

c.1200, from Old English æmettig "at leisure, not occupied, unmarried," from æmetta "leisure," from æ "not" + -metta, from motan "to have" (see might (n.)). The -p- is a euphonic insertion.

Sense evolution from "at leisure" to "empty" is paralleled in several languages, e.g. Modern Greek adeios "empty," originally "freedom from fear," from deios "fear." "The adj. adeios must have been applied first to persons who enjoyed freedom from duties, leisure, and so were unoccupied, whence it was extended to objects that were unoccupied" [Buck].

The adjective also yielded a verb (1520s), replacing Middle English empten, from Old English geæmtigian. Related: Emptied; emptying. Figurative sense of empty-nester first attested 1987. Empty-handed attested from 1610s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with emptily

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
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.