emptiness

noun

emp·​ti·​ness -tēnə̇s 

-tin-

plural -es

1

a

: the quality or state of being empty

b

: the quality or state of lacking or being devoid of contents (as typical or customary)

the emptiness of the coal bin

the emptiness of the garage

c

: the quality or state of being uninhabited, unfrequented, or containing no human beings

the emptiness, the blankness of great solitudes

—Laurence Binyon

the peculiar emptiness of the green meadows and the tiny hidden lanes

—Margery Allingham

2

a

: barrenness

life … ghastly in its emptiness and sterility

—Aldous Huxley

especially : lack of imagination or creative ability

painting marked by simplicity but not emptiness

b

: lack of something necessary to spiritual growth or sustenance

the vulgarity, the cheapness, the showy pretentiousness, the dreadful emptiness of life for the middle classes during the uneasy peace

—W. L. Shirer

the spiritual emptiness of army life will have deeply affected the thinking habits of many men

—B. B. Seligman

c

: inanity, foolishness, senselessness

he realized the emptiness of mere opposition to the U.S. on such questions

—A. F. Buchan

d

: lack of significant purposefulness : an engaging in purposeless or inane activity

life without a customary companion was emptiness, ennui, restiveness and fidget

—Francis Hackett

3

: hunger

the family had sat down, ill-humored from emptiness, to dinner at four o'clock

—Ellen Glasgow

4

a

: lack

they were glad to overlook its frequent emptiness of content

—Van Wyck Brooks

b

: lack of warmth, love, or affection

with her children she feels affectionate and at the same time has an impression of emptiness, which she gloomily interprets as complete indifference

—H. M. Parshley

c

: marked unhappiness deriving from the loss of something loved

the emptiness of utter loss

—F. R. Leavis

d

: sense of loss especially of something desirable

only an emptiness, a feeling that something was over

—Stuart Cloete

5

: uninhabited or unknown territory

stood on the shores of this nameless lake at last … saying that we should turn back from the emptiness which stretched ahead

—Farley Mowat

appears as a sort of outpost, standing almost on the edge of emptiness

—Green Peyton

6

: something lacking significant content : frivolity sense 2

a play that was nothing more than a competent piece of emptiness

7

Buddhism : nirvana

Word History

Etymology

Middle English emptinesse, from empty + -nesse -ness

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