vacuous
adjective
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As you might have guessed, "vacuous" shares the same root as "vacuum"-the Latin adjective vacuus, meaning "empty." This root also gave us the noun "vacuity" (the oldest meaning of which is "an empty space") as well as the verb "evacuate" (originally meaning "to empty of contents"). Its predecessor, the verb "vacare," is also an ancestor of the words "vacation" and "vacancy" as well as "void." All of these words suggest an emptiness of space, or else a fleeing of people or things from one place to another. "Vacuous" appeared in English in the middle of the 17th century, at first literally describing something that was empty. It acquired its figurative usage, describing one who is lacking any substance of the mind, in the mid-1800s.
Synonyms
Examples of vacuous in a Sentence
Samantha Allen, Them, 4 Oct. 2024
First is Google’s plan to cull low-quality apps from Play Store, which should raise the bar materially and cut out much of the vacuous content littering users’ phones.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024
Within the party, there is much private grumbling about the demand for loyalty to a vacuous ideology and what is in effect a ban on the discussion of policy.
—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs, 30 May 2019
The verses are vacuous, the insults have no teeth, and just when the whole thing seems to be leading up to a gigantic redemptive chorus, suddenly pop!
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 20 May 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Vacuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vacuous. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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