empty
Americanadjective
-
emptier,
comparative
-
emptiest
superlative
-
containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents.
an empty bottle.
- Antonyms:
- full
-
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 byof ).
Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.
-
without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless.
empty compliments;
empty pleasures.
- Synonyms:
- vain, useless, pointless, ineffectual, ineffective, futile, bootless, barren
-
not employed in useful activity or work; idle.
empty summer days.
-
I'm feeling rather empty—let's have lunch.
-
without knowledge or sense; frivolous; senseless.
an empty head.
-
completely spent of emotion.
The experience had left him with an empty heart.
verb (used with object)
-
empties,
present (3rd person singular)
-
emptied,
past participle, past
-
emptying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
empties,
present (3rd person singular)
-
emptied,
past participle, past
-
emptying
present participle
-
to become empty.
The room emptied rapidly after the lecture.
-
to discharge contents, as a river.
The river empties into the sea.
noun
-
empties
plural
adjective
-
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
-
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
verb
-
to make or become empty
-
to discharge (contents)
-
to unburden or rid (oneself)
to empty oneself of emotion
noun
Usage
What is a basic definition of empty? Empty describes something as containing nothing or to remove contents from something. Empty also describes something that is meaningless. Empty has several other senses as an adjective and a verb. If something is empty, there is nothing in it. Empty is the opposite of full and is used to describe anything that has a complete absence of contents. Sometimes, empty has slightly different specific meanings depending on context. For example, an empty room might only lack people or it might be totally bare, with no furniture. Empty is also used in many figurative expressions, such as “an empty head,” meaning the person is unintelligent.
- Real-life examples: An empty box has nothing inside it. An empty refrigerator has no food or anything else inside of it. An empty gascan has zero gas in it.
- Used in a sentence: Luis drank the bottle of soda until it was totally empty.
- Used in a sentence: Antonio emptied the bucket of water into the river.
- Real-life examples: If you give an empty compliment, you don’t actually mean the compliment or believe it to be true. An empty gesture is one that you don’t intend on doing or that won’t have any effect, like offering to help your friend with math when you don’t understand the math problems, either. If you have an empty life, you think your life doesn’t have any meaning or purpose.
- Used in a sentence: My sister laughed at my empty threats of breaking her smartphone because she knew I would never actually do it.
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
emptiernoun
-
emptinessnoun
-
emptiableadjective
-
overemptyadjective
-
quasi-emptyadjective
-
self-emptyingadjective
-
unemptiedadjective
-
unemptyadjective
-
emptilyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
emptysimple
-
emptiessimple
-
have emptiedperfect
-
has emptiedperfect
-
am emptyingprogressive
-
are emptyingprogressive
-
is emptyingprogressive
-
have been emptyingperfect progressive
-
has been emptyingperfect progressive
Past
-
emptiedsimple
-
had emptiedperfect
-
was emptyingprogressive
-
were emptyingprogressive
-
had been emptyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of empty
First recorded before 900; Middle English (with intrusive -p- ); Old English ǣm(et)tig “vacant,” from ǣm(et)ta “rest, leisure” ( ǣ- a- 3 + unattested Germanic mōtithō “accommodation”; cf. must 1, meet 1) + -ig -y 1 )
Explanation
If you're an optimist, you're happy that your glass is still half full. If you're a pessimist, you can't help but notice that 50% of your glass is now empty — that is, it contains nothing. Empty comes from an Old English word meaning "at leisure," or in other words, "unoccupied." Over time, the sense of that meaning changed from "not at work" to "devoid of contents." By the tenth century, any container that could be filled or full could also be emptied or empty. As the word continued to evolve, it developed a more figurative sense. If you feel sad and lost, you might say that you feel so empty. If you want to go to the movies and your parents say, "No, but maybe tomorrow," you probably consider that an empty promise, one that will never be fulfilled.
Vocabulary lists containing 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:
A truck carrying an empty ISO tank arrived at Mariel on Sept. 26.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
It also includes an empty site for a Vietnam War soldier in honor of missing troops from that conflict.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026
The Mississippi Legislature that convened to fill Brown’s empty seat had only a minority of Black members, with many white candidates vying for the job.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2026
The park, which has sat empty for five years, has rubble, garden waste, black bags and an old caravan strewn across the vast site.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026
I go over to the would-be bartender, and before I even get the word out, she grabs an empty cup on the table and fills it.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Depending on how heavily a bin is used, the department says it empties receptacles three to seven days a week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Calderas form when an eruption empties such an enormous volume of magma that the ground above the reservoir collapses.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
“All this is going to the U.S.A.,” said Rosario Norzagaray, standing near where the viaduct empties into pipes that cross to the American side.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
Mifepristone, which prevents pregnancy progression, and misoprostol, which empties the uterus, are approved to terminate a pregnancy up to 70 days of gestation in the United States.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
Inside, Gogol empties his pockets and steps through a metal detector, as if he were at an airport, about to embark on a journey.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Future observers will live in a universe that appears far smaller and emptier than the one we can see today.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
More: Oil settles at highest price in over a week, as supplies ‘are getting emptier each week Hormuz stays closed’
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
But that was revised down to 2,500 – which made the cavernous halls of the conference centre feel much emptier.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
“It’s quite . . . empty, emptier than you can imagine. There’s no more pain, no more suffering.”
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2025
It looked much like the one he and Alec had boarded back in their settlement, albeit emptier.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
These regions are among the coldest and emptiest places in the universe.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 21, 2026
Per pupil spending in the district is $19,798, but per pupil costs at the 10 emptiest schools is double—almost $38,000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
So it’s nice that Anne-Lise Millan-Brun, the founder of a bicycle school in Paris, has chosen as a training ground one of the emptiest places in this crowded city.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2023
San Francisco: “The Daily” covered how the City by the Bay’s downtown became the emptiest in America.
From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2023
Certainly it was the emptiest of his threats, for he was nothing if not a provider and a bulwark.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
In one photo, her son's room was completely emptied of toys and clutter.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
Some apartment buildings do not have enough dumpster space, he said, while others are not emptied regularly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
When such enormous volumes of magma escape from underground, the rock above the emptied reservoir can collapse, leaving behind a broad, relatively shallow depression known as a caldera.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
They are then raised and emptied of water, enabling inspections, maintenance and repair.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
It emptied the playground in a hurry too.
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
"The young, secular population is leaving Arad. And the school classrooms are emptying," Gordon said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
The earlier fat intake also slowed gastric emptying, delaying the movement of glucose from the stomach into the intestine.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
Freeman said the Braves have done a good job keeping the Dodgers hitters off-balance by emptying their bullpen, sending in a fresh pitcher every couple of innings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Dr. Nidhi Kansal, an obesity-medicine doctor at Northwestern Medicine who wasn’t involved in the research, said that amylin works similarly to GLP-1 by slowing stomach emptying and can therefore still come with similar side effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The inmates kept their eyes down as they did the scut work, emptying ashtrays and wiping the urine from toilets.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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