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:
Shortly before learning of her son’s demise, Maur receives a series of empty messages on her answering machine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
For example, vacuuming an empty hallway is a simple task that can be automated with relatively little data.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Scientists have discovered a surprising ability of light that allows it to develop spinning patterns as it moves through empty space, without relying on special lenses, mirrors, or materials.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
When you are battling over expanses of empty desert, progress can be hard to see.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
I glance down at the empty summer goals list I ripped out of my notebook.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
To investigate, an international research team examined how consuming fat before or after glucose influences blood sugar, hormone activity, and the speed at which the stomach empties.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
She mops the comb plates of escalators, empties trash bins and sweeps the platform of the No. 7 line subway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“A bridge empties when the tolls gets high enough — no demolition required.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 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
After sixth-period lunch is over, the entire school population empties into the football stadium.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
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
The island didn’t just feel emptier, it was.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
“It’s quite . . . empty, emptier than you can imagine. There’s no more pain, no more suffering.”
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2025
The more he saw others exerting themselves, the emptier he felt.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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
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
While a Roth IRA must also be emptied by year 10, the beneficiary doesn’t owe income tax on withdrawals as long as the Roth IRA has met the five-year holding requirement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Before blood pressure was measured, participants emptied their bladders and walked for two minutes to simulate the typical experience of walking into a clinic or medical office before a screening.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 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
It’s tidy, except for all the gear emptied from her bunk, which is now stacked around the bench seats.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
"The young, secular population is leaving Arad. And the school classrooms are emptying," Gordon said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
The first is slower gastric emptying, which means food moves from the stomach into the small intestine more gradually.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
Earlier on Thursday, Julia wrote in a LinkedIn post: "Working parents have enough to contend with in the morning without a utility company emptying their bank account."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 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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