vacancy

American  

[vey-kuhn-see] / ˈveɪ kən si /

noun

plural

vacancies

1. the state of being vacant; emptiness.

2. a vacant, empty, or unoccupied place, as untenanted lodgings or offices.

   This building still has no vacancies.

3. a gap; opening; breach.

4. an unoccupied position or office.

   a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

5. lack of thought or intelligence; vacuity.

   a look of utter vacancy.

6. Crystallography. (in a crystal) an imperfection resulting from an unoccupied lattice position.

7. Archaic. absence of activity; idleness.

---

vacancy British  

/ ˈveɪkənsɪ /

noun

1. the state or condition of being vacant or unoccupied; emptiness

2. an unoccupied post or office

   we have a vacancy in the accounts department

3. an unoccupied room in a boarding house, hotel, etc

   put the "No Vacancies" sign in the window

4. lack of thought or intelligent awareness; inanity

   an expression of vacancy on one's face

5. physics a defect in a crystalline solid caused by the absence of an atom, ion, or molecule from its position in the crystal lattice

6. obsolete idleness or a period spent in idleness

---

Other Word Forms

• nonvacancy noun

Etymology

Origin of vacancy

From the Medieval Latin word vacantia, dating back to 1570–80. See vacant, -ancy

Explanation

Vacancy refers to something being unoccupied. If a hotel has vacancies, there are rooms available. Have you ever noticed a store that's boarded up and empty, with signs like "For sale" or "For rent"? That's an example of vacancy: the store has no one in it. An unrented apartment is a vacancy, as is a house with no one living in it. Hotels put up a sign saying "No vacancies" when they have every room filled. It could help you remember what vacancy means if you know that a vacant lot is an empty lot.

Example Sentences

The vacancy is likely to be at the top of the order, so the replacement goes in as the no-frills option.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

A number of cities in Pennsylvania, including Harrisburg and Allentown, have used higher tax rates on land than on buildings, with evidence of increased development and reduced vacancy.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

The vacancy rate for new-construction warehouses measuring between 100,000 and 500,000 square feet was sitting at a record high of 27% during the last quarter of 2025, according to CoStar.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

“Downtown’s commercial vacancy crisis is visible on every block,” a recent report by the residents’ group said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2026

Normally, the type specimen of a species is the first set of bones found, but since no first set of Homo sapiens bones exists, there was a vacancy, which Cope desired to fill.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• gap
• job
• vacuum
• void