1
as in devoid
lacking contents that could or should be present
a great vacuous space that should have been filled with an audience
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
a movie that was enthusiastically derided for its vacuous dialogue
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of vacuous
Enclosed by barriers and protected by African guards who call out to each other like a Greek chorus, the headquarters that house Horn, Cal, and his team operates as a vacuous black hole of containers and equipment.
—
Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
Gavras, working from a script he co-wrote with Pulitzer-finalist playwright Will Arbery, seems to be poking fun at the vacuous postures of the oligarch class, just as Ruben Östlund and many other filmmakers have in recent years.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025
Malvolio’s sneering high-handedness enrages the hedonistic members of Olivia’s household: her drunken cousin, Sir Toby Belch (John Ellison Conlee); his vacuous buddy Andrew Aguecheek (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); and her saucy maid, Maria (Daphne Rubin-Vega).
—Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
Fallon, for his part, plays his usual role of affable if vacuous host.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vacuous
Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
Gavras, working from a script he co-wrote with Pulitzer-finalist playwright Will Arbery, seems to be poking fun at the vacuous postures of the oligarch class, just as Ruben Östlund and many other filmmakers have in recent years.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025
Malvolio’s sneering high-handedness enrages the hedonistic members of Olivia’s household: her drunken cousin, Sir Toby Belch (John Ellison Conlee); his vacuous buddy Andrew Aguecheek (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); and her saucy maid, Maria (Daphne Rubin-Vega).
—Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
Fallon, for his part, plays his usual role of affable if vacuous host.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vacuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vacuous
Adjective
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Banking has become functionally correct but emotionally devoid, with the industry swimming in a sea of sameness.—
Michael Abbott,
Forbes,
19 Mar. 2025
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That devoid ingredient hindered things exponentially.—
Roderick Boone,
Charlotte Observer,
15 Feb. 2024
Adjective
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As Legally Blonde's Elle Woods, Witherspoon charted a memorable path from dumb blonde to Harvard Law School graduate.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Nov. 2025
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Celebrities fight it out to be eliminated from the competition as quickly as possible to avoid being crowned the nation’s dumbest.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Past Future Continuous shifts focus from the act of leaving to the homes and land left behind — places that grow emptier over time.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
10 Nov. 2025
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The 2026 fest will improve upon this system by swapping out all tanks prior to guest arrival, so each system is fresh and empty at the start of the event.—
Katie Bain,
Billboard,
10 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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What gave me the crazy idea to stand at the bar, listening to that woman being praised for her stupid f---ing commitment to New York City and her ugly f---ing buildings?—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
7 Nov. 2025
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Her mechanism for luring victims involves a stick, someone’s hair, her blood, and another person stupid enough to let her through their front door.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The barren Martian landscape stretches as far as the eye can see, interrupted only occasionally by the faintest of tire tracks marking the unpaved road on Libya’s north-south route.—
Mick Krever,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
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In the wild, macaques can traverse miles of novel terrain each week and socialize through grooming, but in many laboratories they are isolated in barren cages no bigger than a washing machine.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Hoover finished 319 yards on 34-of-50 passing, but his two turnovers were critical mistakes that led to TCU’s slow start in the first half.—
Steven Johnson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
9 Nov. 2025
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When visiting the exhibit, plan on taking your time to make the most of it, or what the American Federation of Arts calls slow looking.—
Susan B. Barnes,
Southern Living,
9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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According to Bruce Blair, a former Air Force launch officer and nuclear policy expert, between 1962 and the mid-1970s the most powerful digits on the globe were simple – eight zeros.—
Charlotte Reck,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
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That something as simple as a COVID vaccine might improve survival in cancer patients receiving standard immunotherapy has taken oncologists by surprise — in a good way.—
Lisa Jarvis,
Twin Cities,
8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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The thick artificial foliage is pre-lit with warm white LED bulbs spaced through the entire length of the 10-foot piece.—
Kate McGregor,
Architectural Digest,
5 Nov. 2025
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With more than 38,000 gallons of fuel on board the cargo flight bound for Hawaii, the crash created a massive ball of fire – punctuated by smaller explosions from flammable material on the ground – and sent a towering plume of thick black smoke into the sky.—
Karina Tsui,
CNN Money,
5 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Vacuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vacuous. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.
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