vacate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to give up possession or occupancy of.
to vacate an apartment.
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to give up or relinquish (an office, position, etc.).
She recently vacated her position as president of the organization.
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to render inoperative; deprive of validity; void; annul.
to vacate a legal judgment.
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to cause to be empty or unoccupied; make vacant.
to vacate one's mind of worries.
verb (used without object)
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to withdraw from occupancy; surrender possession.
We will have to vacate when our lease expires.
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to give up or leave a position, office, etc.
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to leave; go away.
verb
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to cause (something) to be empty, esp by departing from or abandoning it
to vacate a room
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(also intr) to give up the tenure, possession, or occupancy of (a place, post, etc); leave or quit
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law
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to cancel or rescind
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to make void or of no effect; annul
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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vacatesimple
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vacatessimple
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have vacatedperfect
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has vacatedperfect
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am vacatingprogressive
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are vacatingprogressive
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is vacatingprogressive
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have been vacatingperfect progressive
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has been vacatingperfect progressive
Past
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vacatedsimple
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had vacatedperfect
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was vacatingprogressive
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were vacatingprogressive
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had been vacatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of vacate
First recorded in 1635–45; from Latin vacātus, past participle of vacāre “to be empty”; cf. vacuum
Explanation
If someone asks you to vacate the room, you'd better pack up your things and go. When you vacate something, you leave it behind, usually empty. When you stay at a hotel, you're required to vacate the room at check-out time. The same goes for the last day of your lease on your apartment or after closing on the sale of your house. In all of these cases, you've got to get going and take all of your stuff with you. The verb vacate can also be used in conjunction with leaving a job, often an appointed office.
Vocabulary lists containing vacate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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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.
Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk says he will vacate all his belts - but is not retiring.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
A federal judge denied the Department of Justice’s motion to vacate an order quashing subpoenas, citing harassment of former Fed chair Jerome Powell.
From Barron's • Jun. 11, 2026
The company spent years searching for another space in Koreatown after landlord Jamison Properties notified tenants in the Wilshire building that they would eventually need to vacate, Radio Korea CEO Michael Kim said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
The bank plans to file a motion to vacate the award, he told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
A court had made it clear that Malcolm X and his family would have to vacate the Elmhurst house for its return to the adjudged legal owners, Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
