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
In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act IV
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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:
Our solar system is now about 4.5 billion years old and consists mostly of empty space.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
“Ministers of defense have fat wallets—they walk into the shops and there are empty shelves.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Out of more than 1,000 empty units he helped audit nationally, on average more than half didn't have a letting agent actively marketing the property.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Some stores had empty shelves over the weekend as residents raced to buy essentials, while fresh produce at market stalls was kept dry in polystyrene foam boxes or hanging just above the water level.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
She set down her empty teacup and I held up the kettle, offering more.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
“A bridge empties when the tolls gets high enough — no demolition required.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 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
By evening, the town empties out, with few choosing to stay the night.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
"The Golden Palace River empties into the harbor. We can escape that way."
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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
Now, the Oscar-winning actor is adjusting to an emptier nest as two of his and wife Luciana Barroso’s four daughters head out into the world.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
The louder the engine, the emptier the tank.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
The island didn’t just feel emptier, it was.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
Arthur somehow finds the strength to turn away, and I feel emptier with each rapid footstep he takes.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Wherever you travel in the universe, whether to a nearby galaxy or to the deepest interior of the emptiest void, you will never truly be alone.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026
Its new analysis—based on recent Chicago Public Schools data— shows that at least 255 of Chicago’s school buildings are underutilized, with the 10 emptiest schools operating at just 11% capacity on average.
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
"I read a line that said, 'You are like pomegranates split open. Even the emptiest among you are as full of good as a pomegranate is of seed.'"
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
Since it happened, CalMac has not run the ship's main engines on LNG, and the methane tank was completely emptied last November.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The conflict has disrupted marquee events, emptied luxury hotels, and hit aviation, real estate, tourism, shipping and hotels across the region.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
A man was apparently digging around inside a dumpster when the driver picked it up and emptied it into the back of the truck, the department said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Then, at 16:30 local time on Tuesday, the driving range emptied, as players headed for a meeting with "the investor".
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The children were evacuated, the museums emptied of paintings, the storefronts shuttered.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
She may also have to devote precious time to the practical task of showcasing the condo for sale, and emptying years of living that would prevent a buyer from imagining themselves living there.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Achieving that, however, will require emptying an injury list that is almost as long as the team’s starting lineup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
When infected mosquitoes are found, workers treat the area where they were collected with adulticide and conduct “source reduction,” a sophisticated way of describing what usually amounts to emptying containers of standing water.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Removing stagnant water, such as by emptying flowerpot plates, overturning unused pails and breaking up hardened soil, can help break the dengue transmission cycle.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 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
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.
