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emptiness
[ emp-tee-nis ]
noun
- the fact or state of containing nothing or of being without the usual or appropriate contents:
All morning the emptiness of the cupboard, the thought of the house without even tea or butter, had been troubling him.
- the fact or state of being without human occupants or human activity:
A broad, slanting patch of sunshine cut across the gloomy, lifeless emptiness of the church.
- empty or barren space; void:
If we leave today we can reach the outpost by the 27th—through another 800 miles of flat, windy emptiness.
- the fact or quality of being without force or effect; hollowness:
Continued support for brutal regimes reveals the hypocrisy and emptiness of the administration’s professed goal of spreading democracy.
- the quality or feeling of being without significance or purpose; meaninglessness:
In the 21st century we are more likely to experience aimlessness and emptiness than guilt.
- the fact or quality of being unoccupied by useful work or activity; idleness:
An active man, not yet sixty, he was unused to the emptiness of his days after he retired.
- the fact or quality of being completely spent or drained emotionally by trauma:
Many women describe a feeling of numbness and emptiness following a miscarriage.
Other Word Forms
- -·پ·Ա noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of emptiness1
Example Sentences
Chuckling as he opened cabinets that echoed with emptiness, he asked, “Seriously, where do you keep the salt?”
A person seems to be coming into view, materializing from emptiness before your eyes.
They described the teenager as "kind and gentle" and said his death had left an "unimaginable emptiness in our hearts".
Putting aside the emptiness of GOP committee members’ concern over youngsters being more harmed by anything on PBS than the vast frontier of the notoriously family-friendly Internet, the entire display was a sham.
“I was suspended in emptiness, with nothing over my head or under my feet.… I knew I was dead and this wasn’t heaven.”
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