EMPTINESS Synonyms: 65 Similar and Opposite Words

emptiness

noun

Definition of emptiness next

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

as in void

empty space there in the vast emptiness of the desert was a long-abandoned jeep

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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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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 Inner emptiness has always been a fixation of Ye. —

Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 1 Apr. 2026 While fans would have surely loved to get any of these songs over the past five years in lieu of the chaos of 2020s-era Ye, there’s still an emptiness at the heart of Bully. —

Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2026 March marked the 100th anniversary of a famous building in downtown Detroit that, like numerous others in the city, was lucky to have survived a previous period of emptiness and neglect. —

Jc Reindl, Freep.com, 31 Mar. 2026 Over time, this creates a sense of emptiness, a lack of purpose and significance. —

Arthur C. Brooks march 22, CBS News, 22 Mar. 2026 The tens of thousands of conference attendees who surged into downtown San Jose this week provided a stark contrast to the typical daytime emptiness, and highlighted the otherwise sluggish recovery of the city’s economically vital conference and convention business. —

Ethan Baron, Mercury News, 21 Mar. 2026 The emptiness was an eerie reminder of how the country felt during Covid-19. —

Emma Graham, CNBC, 3 Mar. 2026 In another photographer’s hands, Atget’s subjects, which show how thought and vision can work in tandem with emptiness, would likely be only a backdrop to the drama of humanity. —

Hilton Als, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026 For them, mental emptiness leads to physical clarity. —

Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for emptiness

Noun

The Muffuletta at Central Grocery When hunger hits, head to Central Grocery, the birthplace of the muffuletta sandwich and a NOLA original since 1906.

— Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
From that point in the novel to its wrenching end, June searches for her baby with the passionate abandon of a first-time mother and the aching hunger of every mother separated from her child.

— Meredith Maran, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026