1
as in devoid
lacking contents that could or should be present
the refrigerator is empty, so we'll have to eat out
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hungry
feeling a desire or need for food
as the long car trip wore on, we all started to feel a little empty
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in meaningless
having no meaning
spare me your empty apologies because if you were truly sorry, you'd change
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4
as in worthless
having no usefulness
an empty task that was assigned just to keep us busy
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5
as in unsuccessful
producing no results
all of the leads in the missing-person case were turning up empty
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6
as in blank
not expressing any emotion
the speaker looked out at a crowd of empty faces
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of empty
Jasper Craven, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
No application of armed violence can make the men with guns as heroic as the people who choose to stand in their path with empty hands in defense of their neighbors.
—Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2026
Tony Sachs, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
The Heat then went with a bench rotation of Jaquez, Ware, Fontecchio and Kasparas Jakucionis against the Warriors before emptying the bench late in the lopsided defeat.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for empty
Adjective
Next to him were a couple of empty bottles of Pacifico and some betting slips.
—Jasper Craven, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
No application of armed violence can make the men with guns as heroic as the people who choose to stand in their path with empty hands in defense of their neighbors.
—Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2026
Verb
It was kept in interconnected wooden vats that were periodically filled with rums of various origins, but never completely emptied, making it effectively an enormous and complex solera rum.
—Tony Sachs, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
The Heat then went with a bench rotation of Jaquez, Ware, Fontecchio and Kasparas Jakucionis against the Warriors before emptying the bench late in the lopsided defeat.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for empty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for empty
Adjective
-
Banking has become functionally correct but emotionally devoid, with the industry swimming in a sea of sameness.—
Michael Abbott,
Forbes,
19 Mar. 2025
-
That devoid ingredient hindered things exponentially.—
Roderick Boone,
Charlotte Observer,
15 Feb. 2024
Adjective
-
Fans of franchises are hungry for products that celebrate and show off their favorite characters or movie moments.—
Sarah Whitten,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Our community is curious, ambitious, intellectually hungry — a group of lifelong learners who want to understand the world and their place in it more deeply.—
Daphne Koller,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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His 2010 Cy Young victory despite a 13-12 record marked a turning point where win-loss record went from being the most important pitcher stat to one that’s borderline meaningless.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
25 Jan. 2026
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Dismissing such conflicts as a grotesque but meaningless assemblage of scandals—the love child of Teapot Dome and Watergate—would be a mistake.—
Walter Russell Mead,
The Atlantic,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The gain from a call option would exceed the return on the stock alone, but involves greater risk than simply buying the stock because the contracts can expire worthless.—
Liz Napolitano,
CNBC,
7 Jan. 2026
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When Ukraine agreed to give up the nuclear weapons on its soil in the mid-1990s, Russia provided a security guarantee that proved worthless.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
These therapies are not universally successful, of course, but can often save lives and defeat cancers where other methods are unsuccessful.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Symptoms include cravings, unsuccessful quit attempts, tolerance and withdrawal.—
Melissa Rudy,
FOXNews.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The thought of a blank calendar is scarier than working eighty hours a week.—
Lien De Pau,
Forbes.com,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Fans tuning into the 2026 Grammys in hopes of seeing Taylor Swift will be left with a blank space on Sunday.—
Vivian Kwarm,
Mercury News,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Gellibrand resident Kyla Beale said fires had been looming over the community for about two weeks following a previous heatwave earlier in January, and most of the town evacuated on Saturday.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
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The residents of all eight units were evacuated and displaced, the Waterbury Fire Department said.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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In 2016, a team led by Su Yinquan, dean of forestry at Northwest A&F University, leased 14 hectares of barren Gobi land in Xinjiang to test whether Duzhong could survive and grow there.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Jan. 2026
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The president cites national security concerns—despite existing approvals to expand militarily—and the potentially rich natural resources on the icy, largely barren territory.—
Jordan Blum,
Fortune,
21 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Empty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/empty. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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