empty

[emp-tee]

adjective

emptier, emptiest 

1. containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents.

   an empty bottle.

   Antonyms: full

2. having no occupant or occupants; vacant; unoccupied.

   an empty house.

3. without cargo or load.

   an empty wagon.

4. destitute of people or human activity.

   We walked along the empty streets of the city at night.

5. destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually followed byof ).

   Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.

6. without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless.

   empty compliments;

   empty pleasures.

   Synonyms: vain, useless, pointless, ineffectual, ineffective, futile, bootless, barren

7. not employed in useful activity or work; idle.

   empty summer days.

8. Mathematics.,  (of a set) containing no elements; null; void.

9. hungry.

   I'm feeling rather empty—let's have lunch.

10. without knowledge or sense; frivolous; senseless.

    an empty head.

11. completely spent of emotion.

    The experience had left him with an empty heart.

verb (used with object)

emptied, emptying 

1. to make empty; deprive of contents; discharge the contents of.

   to empty a bucket.

   Synonyms: unload, clear

2. to discharge (contents).

   to empty the water out of a bucket.

verb (used without object)

emptied, emptying 

1. to become empty.

   The room emptied rapidly after the lecture.

2. to discharge contents, as a river.

   The river empties into the sea.

noun

plural

empties 

1. Informal.,  something that is empty, as a box, bottle, or can.

   Throw the empties into the waste bin.

empty

/ ˈɛmptɪ /

adjective

1. containing nothing

2. without inhabitants; vacant or unoccupied

3. carrying no load, passengers, etc

4. without purpose, substance, or value

   an empty life

5. insincere or trivial

   empty words

6. not expressive or vital; vacant

   she has an empty look

7. informal,  hungry

8. devoid; destitute

   a life empty of happiness

9. informal,  drained of energy or emotion

   after the violent argument he felt very empty

10. maths logic (of a set or class) containing no members

11. philosophy logic (of a name or description) having no reference

verb

1. to make or become empty

2. to discharge (contents)

3. to unburden or rid (oneself)

   to empty oneself of emotion

noun

1. an empty container, esp a bottle

Other Word Forms

• emptiable adjective
• emptier noun
• emptily adverb
• emptiness noun
• overempty adjective
• quasi-empty adjective
• self-emptying adjective
• unemptied adjective
• unempty adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of empty¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English (with intrusive -p- ); Old English ǣm(et)tig “vacant,” from ǣm(et)ta “rest, leisure” ( ǣ- a- ³ + unattested Germanic mōtithō “accommodation”; must ¹, meet ¹ ) + -ig -y ¹ )

Word History and Origins

Origin of empty¹

Old English ǣmtig, from æmetta free time, from æ- without + -metta, from mōtan to be obliged to; see _must ¹

Idioms and Phrases

• glass is half full (half empty)
• running on empty

Synonym Study

Empty, vacant, blank, void denote absence of content or contents. Empty means without appropriate or accustomed contents: an empty refrigerator. Vacant is usually applied to that which is temporarily unoccupied: a vacant chair; three vacant apartments. Blank applies to surfaces free from any marks or lacking appropriate markings, openings, etc.: blank paper; a blank wall. Void emphasizes completely unfilled space with vague, unspecified, or no boundaries: void and without form.

Example Sentences

Bruland, who had her own bookkeeping business, started transferring large amounts of money from the couple's joint account in July 2022, and by December it was virtually empty.

From BBC

Categories include multifamily construction, affordable housing construction, affordable housing preservation and construction of adaptive reuse projects, such as turning empty commercial buildings into housing.

From Los Angeles Times

For Veronica P., an empty nester who moved to Olive Dell in March 2024, the ranch offered her acceptance.

From Los Angeles Times

It told BBC News that the change was due to "an increase in the number of students within Ceredigion", meaning there are "no empty seats" for children travelling from Powys.

From BBC

In one scene, Gere’s character empties his closet and tosses his wardrobe on the bed in an airborne fashion show of Armani’s line.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• clear 
• consume 
• deplete 
• discharge 
• drain 
• drink 
• dump 
• escape 
• evacuate 
• exhaust 
• gut 
• leak 
• purge 
• run out 
• unload 
• vacate 

When To Use

What is a basic definition of empty?

Empty describes something as containing nothing or to remove contents from something. Empty also describes something that is meaningless. Empty has several other senses as an adjective and a verb.If something is empty, there is nothing in it. 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. For example, an empty room might only lack people or it might be totally bare, with no furniture. Empty is also used in many figurative expressions, such as “an empty head,” meaning the person is unintelligent.

• Real-life examples: An empty box has nothing inside it. An empty refrigerator has no food or anything else inside of it. An empty gascan has zero gas in it.



• Used in a sentence: Luis drank the bottle of soda until it was totally empty. 

In a similar sense, empty is used as a verb to mean to remove contents from something or to become empty.

• Used in a sentence: Antonio emptied the bucket of water into the river. 

As an adjective, empty can also describe something as being meaningless or hollow.

• Real-life examples: If you give an empty compliment, you don’t actually mean the compliment or believe it to be true. An empty gesture is one that you don’t intend on doing or that won’t have any effect, like offering to help your friend with math when you don’t understand the math problems, either. If you have an empty life, you think your life doesn’t have any meaning or purpose.



• Used in a sentence: My sister laughed at my empty threats of breaking her smartphone because she knew I would never actually do it.