as in vacant
not being used, filled up, or lived in
an unoccupied house About half of the seats were unoccupied when the concert started. A third of the beds at the hospital were unoccupied.
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Recent Examples of unoccupied
No injuries were reported, as officials said the store was unoccupied at the time.
—
Todd Karpovich, Baltimore Sun, 16 Jan. 2026
The bullet traveled through a wall into an adjacent residence, which was unoccupied at the time, police said.
—Dennis Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 14 Jan. 2026
Agents told investigators that one of their colleagues opened fire Thursday after the driver put the truck in reverse and repeatedly slammed into an unoccupied car the agents had rented, smashing its headlights and knocking off its front bumper.
—CBS News, 13 Jan. 2026
The New York Police Department (NYPD) told PEOPLE that four to five unoccupied, unattended cars were hit by the carriage.
—Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unoccupied
Todd Karpovich, Baltimore Sun, 16 Jan. 2026
The bullet traveled through a wall into an adjacent residence, which was unoccupied at the time, police said.
—Dennis Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 14 Jan. 2026
Agents told investigators that one of their colleagues opened fire Thursday after the driver put the truck in reverse and repeatedly slammed into an unoccupied car the agents had rented, smashing its headlights and knocking off its front bumper.
—CBS News, 13 Jan. 2026
The New York Police Department (NYPD) told PEOPLE that four to five unoccupied, unattended cars were hit by the carriage.
—Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for unoccupied
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unoccupied
Adjective
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His eyes were unblinking and vacant.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
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One of the latest battles emerged recently in Imperial County, where a court fight has erupted between the city of Imperial and a developer who wants to build a nearly 1 million-square-foot computer center on vacant land along the city’s border.—
James Rainey,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Crews later located a debris field near the area where the alert was sent, and found a body in the water and an empty life raft, according to the Coast Guard.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
3 Feb. 2026
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Nanos declined to answer many questions about the case Tuesday but did confirm that there was an empty frame for a security camera near Guthrie’s front door.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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About the size of a washing machine, Draco would purposely pile-drive itself over an ocean uninhabited area just some 12 hours after being put into Earth orbit.—
Leonard David,
Space.com,
31 Jan. 2026
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The whiplash on tariffs calls back to the early months of his return to office, when the status of tariffs on imports from countries, ranging from our biggest trade partners to an uninhabited island, was dizzying.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA Today,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unoccupied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unoccupied. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.
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