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.
-
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.
My nights are draped in the silence of emptiness.
From Los Angeles Times
"I'm struggling to put into words the profound emptiness I'm feeling since learning of James Ransone's passing," she wrote on her Instagram story.
From BBC
"Overnight they became our offices, sanctuaries and emotional anchors," he says, adding that against this backdrop, pushing the Colour of the Year towards "further visual emptiness feels rather tone-deaf".
From BBC
When his messages didn’t appear on my phone, I felt a sense of emptiness that only he was able to fill.
From Los Angeles Times
There is only emptiness: a hollow space where a heart should be, ready to be filled with cold, hard cash.
From Salon
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.
