emptiness

noun

Definition of emptinessnext
1
as in hunger
a need or desire for food the emptiness that usually sets in about three o'clock in the afternoon

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in void
empty space there in the vast emptiness of the desert was a long-abandoned jeep

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in vacancy
the quality or state of being empty the emptiness of the interior of the isolated house just made it seem all the more eerie

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of emptiness There is an emptiness left behind that cannot be filled, and there are so many of us who will never be quite the same without you. — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026 Occasional moments of real, spontaneous joy emerge, and others reveal the crushing emptiness of lives going nowhere, but the script doesn’t lean too hard in either direction. — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2026 In all of the sketchbook entries reproduced here, Ross seems to offer a bridge between the representation of emptiness and the lived sensation of it. — Ryan Sullivan, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026 The suburbs promise space yet deliver emptiness, critics charge. — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026 Treating emptiness as sophistication becomes incapable of distinguishing moral from aesthetic judgment. — Frank Porcu, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026 Markets have seen through the emptiness of Bessent’s remedy, as ‘bond vigilantes’ have driven bond yields even higher despite Bessent’s band-aids. — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026 What makes this emptiness more bothersome is the cavalier way Wingard wields the imagery of rogue, militarized killers wreaking havoc on the American landscape. — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026 Bring In Texture Layering décor is a sure way to absorb a room’s visual emptiness. — Shagun Khare, Martha Stewart, 29 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for emptiness
  1. hunger
  2. void
  3. vacancy
  4. stomach
  5. blankness
  6. vacuum
  7. appetite
  8. blank
Noun
  • Johnson, for instance, says the firm’s research with the the Immersive Experience Institute has shown a hunger in younger generations to embrace spaces such as the Rainforest Cafe.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The brothers operate Feed A Family, a program that fights hunger and food insecurity in Mexico.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of hunger
Noun
  • There’s the convenience of e-commerce and the immediacy of retail — and entering into the void between is Instamall.
    — Evan Clark, Footwear News, 19 Oct. 2026
  • There’s clear demand from developers for routing services, and TrustedRouter could fill a void for the most privacy-obsessed among them.
    — semafor.com, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of void
Noun
  • Electrons from outer shells then fell into those vacancies, releasing energy as X-rays.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Some facilities have experienced vacancy rates of medical staff of nearly 40%.
    — Jaquelyn Jahn, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of vacancy
Noun
  • However, as surveillance footage was being reviewed, video from June 2026 showed Cantrell with a larger stomach, police said.
    — Briauna Brown, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Detectives obtained video footage of Cantrell from a few months prior, and her stomach area appeared larger, the affidavit states.
    — Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of stomach
Noun
  • Elsewhere, Huston exudes a terrifying blankness while writing his Spinoza magnum opus paper dressed literally in a suit with an upright piano in the room, and a Chekhov’s google search of Nembutal in his browser history.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Not only do the records feature scuff marks and price tags, but poems and doodles—as if the blankness was begging to be filled in.
    — Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 24 May 2026
Definition of blankness
Noun
  • Bass told The Times that a push to replace McDonnell right before the 2028 Olympic Games would leave the LAPD with a leadership vacuum just as its leaders are supposed to be focused on security plans for that event.
    — Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Robot vacuums have been cleaning carpets for 20-plus years, but the Robotin R2 Pro, out this fall, washes and dries them.
    — Richard Eisenberg, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of vacuum
Noun
  • Last year, Kort helped launch an Eat the Invaders event, bringing chefs together to channel people’s appetite for delicious food by cooking with invasive and overabundant species.
    — Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Switches made from wide-bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide could handle far higher voltages than silicon, and the EV industry’s appetite for these materials began driving the cost down just as a hungrier customer arrived.
    — Alex Pasternack, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of appetite
Noun
  • With so few ancient samples of dodo DNA surviving—and that which does exist having degraded over the centuries—the analytic and number-crunching power of AI is just what’s needed to fill in the genetic blanks.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 14 Oct. 2026
  • This comes at the same time state Republican party leaders are urging voters to rank Republicans on the ballot and leave the Democrats blank.
    — Will Weissert, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of blank

Browse Nearby Words

empties
emptiness
empty
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Cite this Entry

“Emptiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/emptiness. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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