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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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 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 Drugs ravaged the streets, leaving needles and even more emptiness in their wake. — Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 7 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 However, at the quantum level, emptiness is filled with unwanted noise. — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 22 Aug. 2026 The problem isn’t the characterization, since the surgeon is extremely well drawn and Văncică’s performance picks up on both the overall inner emptiness and the yearning for something more. — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 14 Aug. 2026 If the early universe obeyed this rule, our modern cosmos would be devoid of substance, just energy fields rippling eternally through emptiness. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 13 Aug. 2026 Gone are the extended multi-part suites and intricate guitar workouts, replaced by slight, tender melodies engulfed in a striking emptiness. — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 19 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for emptiness
  1. hunger
  2. void
  3. vacancy
  4. stomach
  5. blankness
  6. vacuum
  7. appetite
  8. blank
Noun
  • His efforts to interfere with his own facility were an expression both of his dividedness and of his deep hunger for freedom.
    — Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Maybe my argument was so strong, the AI would realize that its tech overlords were using this insanely powerful technology not to solve hunger or climate change, but to make reading less essential.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of hunger
Noun
  • Fields went to weed, and livestock wandered untended; the familiar rhythms of rural life gave way to an eerie void.
    — JP Mangalindan, Time, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Others stared silently into the void where the towers once stood.
    — Thomas E. Franklin, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of void
Noun
  • If an official is recalled, the office would be declared vacant in the manner provided by law for filling that vacancy.
    — Cam'ron Hardy, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Lexington, usually a cheaper alternative, also has low vacancy, pushing tenants farther east to Third.
    — Kim Velsey, Curbed, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of vacancy
Noun
  • Creative fare like biryani arancini, crab risotto with curry leaf pesto, and chicken tikka pot pie are worth arriving with an empty stomach for.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The court heard how the former nurse, now 36, attacked babies in her care by administering air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them and poisoning them with insulin.
    — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 15 Sep. 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
  • Dyson is hardly a stranger to powerful cleaning gear, and taking $100 off makes this one much easier to consider if your current vacuum, or even your trusty Roomba, is losing the daily argument with fur, crumbs, and dirt.
    — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The optics are intended for applications including missile seeker windows, furnace inspection ports, semiconductor processing equipment, pyrometers, vacuum chambers and aerospace instrumentation.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of vacuum
Noun
  • The market has already shown a voracious appetite for companies demonstrating copious free cash flows at a time when it's become scarce.
    — Michael Santoli, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026
  • What everyone was caught up in was an appetite with a longer history than the social media platforms now feeding it.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of appetite
Noun
  • Another blank in the weekend’s 2-2 draw with Brentford meant Evanilson has not scored a league goal in 14 games dating back to February 28.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • The need for a federal workforce at KSC dwindled, and that’s when state officials started looking to commercial companies to help fill in the blanks.
    — Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Sep. 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 20 Sep. 2026.

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