vacuity

American  

[va-kyoo-i-tee, vuh-] / væˈkju ɪ ti, və- /

noun

• vacuities
  plural

1. the state of being vacuous or without contents; vacancy; emptiness.

   the vacuity of the open sea.

2. absence of thought or intelligence; inanity; blankness.

   a mind of undeniable vacuity.

3. a time or state of dullness, lacking in mental or physical action or productivity.

   the vacuity of modern existence.

4. an empty space; void.

   a vacuity in the earth formed by erosion.

5. absence or lack of something specified.

   a vacuity of feeling.

6. something inane, senseless, or stupid.

   conversation full of vacuities.

7. a vacuum.

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vacuity British  

/ væˈkjuːɪtɪ /

noun

1. the state or quality of being vacuous; emptiness

2. an empty space or void; vacuum

3. a lack or absence of something specified

   a vacuity of wind

4. lack of normal intelligence or awareness; vacancy

   his stare gave an impression of complete vacuity

5. something, such as a statement, saying, etc, that is inane or pointless

6. (in customs terminology) the difference in volume between the actual contents of a container and its full capacity

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• vacuities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vacuity

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin vacuitās; see vacuous, -ity

Explanation

When you refer to something that is not there, you can refer to its vacuity. A stern teacher who is criticizing an empty-headed English essay might talk about its vacuity, or the absence of any real substance. This abstract noun is derived from the adjective vacuous, which means "like or of a vacuum." Vacuity is rarely used to refer to actual vacuums; it is instead used to disparage arguments, morals, and undertakings that lack proper substance. These transferred meanings are more common for the adjective as well. Use them both sparingly: they are nearly always a marker that you have your judgment hat on!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vacuity vacuities

The vacuity of that rationale needs to be emphasized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

One of the secondary subjects of this tough, absorbing, meticulously controlled movie is the creeping vacuity of so much contemporary teen culture — a culture in which Lea participates without feeling entirely of it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

This moral vacuity provides the spectacle, as H.G.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2023

Suddaby’s analysis shows the vacuity of Bruen’s history-only test.

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2022

He reached for the doorknob that opened the way out into the unlit hall, then shrank back as he glimpsed the vacuity of the rest of the building.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

The use of lime in mortar, is to fill up the hollow spaces or vacuities between the grains of sand, and to cement them together, thereby forming a kind of artificial stone.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 321, July 5, 1828 by Various

Four Children’s Heads, which it is much to be regretted should be thus lost in filling small vacuities of the ceiling.

From The Stones of Venice, Volume III (of 3) by John Ruskin

All church yards, gardens, and unnecessary vacuities, and all trades that use great fires or yield noisome smells to be placed out of town.'

From Captains of Industry or, Men of Business Who Did Something Besides Making Money by James Parton

In side view the orbits have the triangular form seen in Dimorphodon, and the preorbital vacuities are large, as in that genus, while the lateral nostrils, which are smaller, are further forward in the Dinosaur.

From Dragons of the Air An Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles by H. G. Seeley

Nature has appointed happy fields, victorious laurel-crowns; but only to the brave and true: _Un_nature, what we call Chaos, holds nothing in it but vacuities, devouring gulfs.

From Past and Present by Thomas Carlyle