evacuate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to leave empty; vacate.
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to remove (persons or things) from a place, as a dangerous place or disaster area, for reasons of safety or protection.
to evacuate the inhabitants of towns in the path of a flood.
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to remove persons from (a city, town, building, area, etc.) for reasons of safety.
to evacuate the embassy after a bomb threat.
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Military.
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to remove (troops, wounded soldiers, civilians, etc.) from a war zone, combat area, etc.
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to withdraw from or quit (a town, fort, etc., that has been occupied).
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Physiology. to discharge or eject as through the excretory passages, especially from the bowels.
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to deprive.
Fear evacuated their minds of reason.
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to produce a vacuum in.
verb
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(also intr) to withdraw or cause to withdraw from (a place of danger) to a place of greater safety
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to make empty by removing the contents of
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(also intr) physiol
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to eliminate or excrete (faeces); defecate
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to discharge (any waste product) from (a part of the body)
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(tr) to create a vacuum in (a bulb, flask, reaction vessel, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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evacuatesimple
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evacuatessimple
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have evacuatedperfect
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has evacuatedperfect
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am evacuatingprogressive
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are evacuatingprogressive
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is evacuatingprogressive
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have been evacuatingperfect progressive
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has been evacuatingperfect progressive
Past
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evacuatedsimple
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had evacuatedperfect
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was evacuatingprogressive
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were evacuatingprogressive
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had been evacuatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of evacuate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin ēvacuātus “emptied out” (past participle of ēvacuāre, equivalent to ē- + vacuāre ); see origin at e- 1, vacuum, -ate 1
Explanation
To evacuate is to flee, like how people leave an area when a hurricane is coming. It also means to empty something completely. If you have to evacuate your home, something horrible is probably happening, like a natural disaster. People evacuate when something like a tornado or act of terrorism makes their homes unsafe. To evacuate also means to empty completely, in the bathroom-oriented sense of evacuating (emptying) your bowels. Similarly, if a chemist empties and therefore creates a vacuum in a flask, she has evacuated the flask. When you evacuate, you clear out.
Vocabulary lists containing evacuate
May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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Zilch, Zip, Nada: Words For Nothing
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There's No There There: Synonyms for "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.
"For your safety directing all guests to immediately evacuate," officials announced, as most of the crowd started streaming toward exits to seek shelter in nearby museums and government buildings.
From Barron's • Jul. 4, 2026
Unless the process speeds up, it could take years to evacuate all those in need.
From BBC • Jul. 2, 2026
But while Andrews and thousands of Angelenos were racing to evacuate, other people saw a financial opportunity.
From Slate • Jun. 30, 2026
Everything from seat-belt buckle mechanisms to door latches could change how passengers might evacuate in an emergency, or how they are protected in a crash, Federal Aviation Administration chief Bryan Bedford told reporters last month.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 28, 2026
A few days later we are sent to evacuate a village.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
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.
