emptiness

[ emp-tee-nis ]

noun

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 Words From

• self-emp·ti·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of emptiness¹

empty ( def ) + -ness ( def )

Example Sentences

They are afflicted with “progressive spiritual emptiness,” he said, which no amount of academic honors and degrees can fill.

From The Daily Beast

Netherland, published in 2008, attempted to capture a feeling of emptiness in the West after the catastrophic events of 9/11.

From The Daily Beast

When I contemplate God among the dead I find only emptiness and silence.

From The Daily Beast

Now I think that many are beginning to experience the rawness of the trauma, emptiness, and loss.

From The Daily Beast

“I walk around with an emptiness that no one or anything has been able to fill,” she wrote.

From The Daily Beast

It felt to him that he simply walked straight out of her life into a world of emptiness and ice and shadows.

From Project Gutenberg

In the desolate emptiness of desert that yawned ahead, he saw this single tree that blossomed, and offered shade.

From Project Gutenberg

All the election officials present check the complete emptiness of the box.

From Project Gutenberg

Augustine, however, had been gifted by chance with a spirit lofty enough to feel the emptiness of such a life.

From Project Gutenberg

What must be the horror, darkness and emptiness of those living substances that are "inferior" to us?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• desolation
• vacuum