evacuate
Americanverb (used with object)
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evacuates,
present (3rd person singular)
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evacuated,
past participle, past
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evacuating
present participle
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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
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!
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:
Remote-piloted drones help to deliver supplies and evacuate the wounded, rescuing servicemen, Ukraine’s most valuable resource, but they remain labor intensive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
He said residents tried to put out the fire but had to evacuate due to its severity.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Residents of the garrison town told AFP they feared being unable to obtain enough fuel if they suddenly need to evacuate.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Blazes have ripped through the Spokane region of eastern Washington state, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate over the past week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
On Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, John V. Roos, issued a recommendation that all American citizens living within 50 miles of the plant evacuate.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
But in France, Marielle Mourgeon was among 4,000 people forced to cut holidays short in the seaside village of Lacanau, near Bordeaux, after authorities ordered camping sites evacuates as a precaution.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
They handed her over to the “White Angels,” a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front line, who then took her to a shelter for evacuees and contacted her relatives.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
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
Wu | is beaten by Ch`in and evacuates Ying.
From The Art of War by Sunzi (6th cent. BC)
The governor's office said shifting winds had complicated firefighters' efforts but that "the defensive line protecting evacuated areas is holding".
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo were evacuated with damage reported to a number of buildings.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Some 1,000 people from 18 different villages and settlements remain evacuated, though weather forecasts call for some welcome light rain and lower temperatures.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
"The water remained low for quite some time, so everyone panicked and ran - I went around to the community health centre, and the people there had already been evacuated."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Charlie had been evacuated to the hospital ship.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
Zaidan said that about 30 Israeli military vehicles and engineering teams entered the village Monday evening, evacuating residents of 30 houses surrounding Ramadan's home before the demolition.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Peyton Maxwell, 23, got an alert on her Blink camera last week as she was evacuating and watched the wildfire approach her house in the Indian Trails neighborhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
At one point, Epping Forest District Council considered evacuating nearby houses due to the chaos.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
The troops will assist with evacuating residents from areas threatened by the fires and help safeguard homes left unattended during the emergency, the defence ministry said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
“She and some of the other girls made it to Nicodemus. She found something as they were evacuating Miss Preston's and I thought I should bring it to you.”
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
