emptiness
Americannoun
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the fact or state of containing nothing or of being without the usual or appropriate contents.
All morning the emptiness of the cupboard, the thought of the house without even tea or butter, had been troubling him.
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the fact or state of being without human occupants or human activity.
A broad, slanting patch of sunshine cut across the gloomy, lifeless emptiness of the church.
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empty or barren space; void.
If we leave today we can reach the outpost by the 27th—through another 800 miles of flat, windy emptiness.
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the fact or quality of being without force or effect; hollowness.
Continued support for brutal regimes reveals the hypocrisy and emptiness of the administration’s professed goal of spreading democracy.
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the quality or feeling of being without significance or purpose; meaninglessness.
In the 21st century we are more likely to experience aimlessness and emptiness than guilt.
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the fact or quality of being unoccupied by useful work or activity; idleness.
An active man, not yet sixty, he was unused to the emptiness of his days after he retired.
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the fact or quality of being completely spent or drained emotionally by trauma.
Many women describe a feeling of numbness and emptiness following a miscarriage.
Other Word Forms
- self-emptiness noun
Etymology
Origin of emptiness
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.
Coulson's twin said she had been left with an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
The emptiness of such platitudes in this moment leaves much to be desired.
From Salon • Jan. 10, 2026
My nights are draped in the silence of emptiness.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2025
Now, lying thick and still under the cover of plastic seats, the cavernous emptiness of the place mirrors the void left since it is modern reincarnation in the late 1990s.
From BBC • Nov. 18, 2025
It was like she had reached the end of the world, and beyond it was this fierce emptiness that curled its way around everything like a snake, just waiting for its moment to squeeze.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
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.
