empty, vacant, blank, void, vacuous mean lacking contents which could or should be present. empty suggests a complete absence of contents.

Empty is the opposite of full and is used to describe anything that has a complete absence of contents. Sometimes, empty has slightly different specific meanings depending on context.

He says his life has been completely empty since his wife died. I felt empty, like a part of me had died.

These adjectives mean without contents that could or should be present. Empty is the broadest and can apply to what lacks contents (an empty box), occupants (an empty seat), or …

If you describe a person's life or a period of time as empty, you mean that nothing interesting or valuable happens in it. My life was very hectic but empty before I met him.

There are 29 meanings listed in OED's entry for the word empty, six of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

• I think there's an empty seat in the back row. empty space • And her once proud position in the royal line, between her husband and father-in-law, is now an empty space.

an empty [= hollow, idle] threat an empty promise Her apology was just an empty gesture. Their promises are just a lot of empty talk/words.

Empty comes from an Old English word meaning "at leisure," or in other words, "unoccupied." Over time, the sense of that meaning changed from "not at work" to "devoid of contents."

Definition of empty adjective in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.