Library / English Dictionary

EMPTY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: emptied    , emptier    , emptiest   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A container that has been emptied

Example:

return all empties to the store

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("empty" is a kind of...):

container (any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another))

Derivation:

empty (become empty or void of its content)

empty (make void or empty of contents)

empty (remove)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Holding or containing nothing

Example:

empty hours

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

void (containing nothing)

vacuous (devoid of matter)

vacant (void of intelligence or thought)

vacant (without an occupant or incumbent)

looted; pillaged; plundered; ransacked (wrongfully emptied or stripped of anything of value)

lifeless (destitute or having been emptied of life or living beings)

glassy; glazed ((used of eyes) lacking liveliness)

empty-handed (carrying nothing in the hands)

blank; clean; white ((of a surface) not written or printed on)

bare; stripped (having everything extraneous removed including contents)

Attribute:

fullness (the condition of being filled to capacity)

Antonym:

full (containing as much or as many as is possible or normal)

Derivation:

emptiness (the state of containing nothing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Emptied of emotion

Example:

after the violent argument he felt empty

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

drained (emptied or exhausted of (as by drawing off e.g. water or other liquid))

Derivation:

emptiness (the state of containing nothing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Needing nourishment

Example:

empty-bellied children

Synonyms:

empty; empty-bellied

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

hungry (feeling hunger; feeling a need or desire to eat food)

Derivation:

emptiness (having an empty stomach)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Devoid of significance or force

Example:

vacuous comments

Synonyms:

empty; hollow; vacuous

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

meaningless; nonmeaningful (having no meaning or direction or purpose)

Derivation:

emptiness (the quality of being valueless or futile)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Excrete or discharge from the body

Synonyms:

empty; evacuate; void

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "empty" is one way to...):

egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "empty"):

suction (empty or clean (a body cavity) by the force of suction)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become empty or void of its content

Example:

The room emptied

Synonyms:

discharge; empty

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "empty" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "empty"):

flow away; flow off (flow off or away gradually)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

fill (become full)

Derivation:

empty (a container that has been emptied)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make void or empty of contents

Example:

The alarm emptied the building

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "empty" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

discharge; empty (become empty or void of its content)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "empty"):

gut (empty completely; destroy the inside of)

core out; hollow; hollow out (remove the interior of)

drain (empty of liquid; drain the liquid from)

knock out (empty (as of tobacco) by knocking out)

exhaust (use up the whole supply of)

clear (rid of instructions or data)

clear (remove the occupants of)

void (clear (a room, house, place) of occupants or empty or clear (a place or receptacle) of something)

eviscerate (remove the contents of)

evacuate (create a vacuum in (a bulb, flask, reaction vessel))

evacuate (empty completely)

bleed (drain of liquid or steam)

clean out; clear out (empty completely)

bail (empty (a vessel) by bailing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They empty the sink of water

Antonym:

fill (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Derivation:

empty (a container that has been emptied)

emptying (the act of removing the contents of something)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove

Example:

Empty the water

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "empty" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "empty"):

offload; unlade; unload (remove the load from (a container or vehicle))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They empty the water from the sink

Derivation:

empty (a container that has been emptied)

emptying (the act of removing the contents of something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Leave behind empty; move out of

Example:

You must vacate your office by tonight

Synonyms:

abandon; empty; vacate

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "empty" is one way to...):

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

The room was empty, and the bed had never been slept in.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each closet needed but a glance, for all were empty, and all, by the dust that fell from their doors, had stood long unopened.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

When I came back the gallon jar was empty, and he lay as you see him, with the board in front of him with this sorry device.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Several bullets struck the log-house, but not one entered; and as the smoke cleared away and vanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and empty as before.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

They are synthesized in the liver as empty proteins and they pick up cholesterol and increase in size as they circulate through the bloodstream.

(High Density Lipoprotein, NCI Thesaurus)

Geriatric Depression Scale, Short Form (GDS-SF) Do you feel that your life is empty?

(GDS-SF - Feel Life Is Empty, NCI Thesaurus)

A character used to fill empty space.

(Pad Character, NCI Thesaurus)

I stepped fearfully in: the apartment was empty, and my bedroom was also freed from its hideous guest.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He was not clad in uniform, but he wore a high-collared brown coat, with the right sleeve hanging limp and empty by his side.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) Do you feel that your life is empty?

(GDS - Feel Life Is Empty, NCI Thesaurus)