Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being hollow; cavity; depression of surface; excavation.
  • noun Emptiness; insincerity; deceitfulness; treachery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun State of being hollow.
  • noun Insincerity; unsoundness; treachery.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the state or quality of being hollow

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of not being open or truthful; deceitful or hypocritical
  • noun the state of being hollow: having an empty space within
  • noun the property of having a sunken area

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hollow +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • "[E] ssentially, The Good German is a parallel universe version of Casablanca, which both makes the film interesting and ultimately lends it a certain hollowness," writes Drew Morton at Dr Mabuse's Kaleido-Scope.

    GreenCine Daily: Shorts, 11/24. 2006

  • The superficiality, the alienation, the escapism and the hollowness are a result of a steady bombardment of confusing and deadening messages designed to reduce us to passive consumers.

    The 20 Best Progressive Novels 2009

  • Medium-full bodied throughout, without any of that 'hollowness' that some Long Island reds present on the mid-palate, the tannins are medium strength and a bit angular right now.

    The New York Cork Report: 2009

  • Maybe others in the pueblo feel the same sense of frustration, a strange kind of hollowness and loss.

    Beautifully Arranged 2009

  • Maybe others in the pueblo feel the same sense of frustration, a strange kind of hollowness and loss.

    Beautifully Arranged 2009

  • Interviewees include Pete Seeger and, understandably lamenting the "hollowness" of the American dream, Robert Meeropol, son of the Rosenbergs.

    The weekend's TV highlights Will Dean 2010

  • You looked at his backside and there was a kind of hollowness to it.

    James Given in no doubt Dandino can prove Classic material Chris Cook at Willoughton 2010

  • The main com channel, only moments before so busy with professional, businesslike voices, now echoed with a distant electronic hollowness, meaningless clicks and scratches of static.

    Delta Search Shatner, William 1997

  • He leaned against the carved doorframe, hugging himself wretchedly, wondering why he could feel almost nothing, not even real grief -- just a kind of hollowness that nothing, throughout the length of his life, would ever again fill.

    The Silent Tower Hambly, Barbara 1986

  • Also, when I talked to my mommy, the call quality wasn't bad-it was very clear-but it also had a weird kind of hollowness to it.

    Gizmodo 2009

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