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.
See Examples For:
Wildfires are raging across the southwest of the continent, forcing authorities to evacuate tens of thousands of people from tourist resorts and other areas close to population centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
"We are welcoming people from the peninsula who have been evacuated to our reception centres, and now we have been instructed to evacuate those centres as well," said Jean-Francois Garric, the town's deputy mayor.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
In addition to the hazardous smoke extending across to the US, wildfires in northern Ontario have forced dozens from local First Nations communities to evacuate, with videos showing some fleeing the remote area by boat.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
When only the Americans were granted permission to evacuate, Hamawy refused to go.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
The federal government came up with $42 million to evacuate the town.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Vlad Mahovsky, a volunteer who evacuates civilians, showed the BBC a message from a resident a few days ago.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024
Six medics move up and down the narrow corridor between two rows of three beds that run the length of the bus, which is part of Ukraine's Hospitallers Medical Battalion that evacuates troops across Ukraine.
From Reuters ● Mar. 16, 2023
At least 21 Americans have been wounded in combat since the war started, according to a volunteer group that evacuates them.
From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2022
That surface low will “deepen” over the anomalously warm Gulf Stream, meaning its minimum air pressure will drop as it evacuates air from its core.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2022
According to some accounts, it even evacuates the lining of the intestines with their contents.
From Butterflies and Moths (British) by Furneaux, William S.
She added that homes in evacuated areas would be monitored to prevent any vandalism.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
People have been evacuated from nursing homes, campsites, public buildings and private homes as the flames encroach on urban areas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
More than 430 elderly people and disabled have been evacuated from five care homes in the region.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
He said "everybody at the scene is safe" but that residents have been evacuated.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
His brain braced itself for certain disappointment, but his heart was ready to be evacuated of all previous sadness and make plenty of room for everything to be good, and real, and safe.
From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin
"We turned the corner and all of a sudden the fire was there, there were two coaches of people evacuating too," said Cheytan.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Even in the worsening atmosphere, Shekhova was packed but still indecisive about evacuating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Garden Grove police chief Amir El-Farra said most people are evacuating, but about 15% are refusing to evacuate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Ghana's government has promised to give those it is evacuating from South Africa a re-integration financial package and psycho-social support.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
“They’re evacuating the younger kids and everyone’s meeting in the Great Hall to get organized,” Harry said.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
