Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Devoid of matter; empty.
- adj. Lacking intelligence; stupid.
- adj. Devoid of substance or meaning; inane: a vacuous comment.
- adj. Devoid of expression; vacant: "The narrow, swinelike eyes were open, no more vacuous in death than they had been in life” ( Nicholas Proffitt).
- adj. Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle. See Synonyms at empty.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Empty; unfilled; void; vacant.
- Without intelligence or intelligent expression; unexpressive; showing no intelligence: as, a vacuous look.
Wiktionary
- adj. Lacking meaningful content.
- adj. Showing a lack of thought or intelligence; vacant
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Empty; unfilled; void; vacant.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. devoid of intelligence
- adj. devoid of matter
- adj. devoid of significance or point
- adj. void of expression
Etymologies
- From Latin vacuus, empty; see vacuum.
Examples
“Furthermore, labeling your argument vacuous is a condemnation of your argument, not of you.”
“Scientifically vacuous is not the same as invalid.”
“MikeGene: Scientifically vacuous is not the same as invalid.”
“I cringe whenever I hear terms like “podosphere” or “blogsophere” but tonight, Steve made me retch like a college freshman at his first kegger with the ultimate in vacuous hyperbole: “mainstreammediaosphere”!”
“But, anything less than declaring ID to be scientifically vacuous is shortchanging the public, who depend on scientists to be honest.”
“She stood in the doorway, sucking on the straw, her face the twin of Tee Bobby’s, her expression vacuous, her eyes tangled with thoughts that probably no one could ever guess at.”
“Sunday Times asking for an example of the humour they advise, maybe a joke or two that I could pass round the pub and that would sort of snowball resulting in the exposure of Choudary and his ideas as "vacuous" - so far nothing.”
“Watching women compete with each other who are that vacuous is kind of like witnessing the anthropology of woman’s dark side.”
Lunar Eclipse Loses To Stupidity On TV « Unambiguously Ambidextrous
“I’ve noticed authors are enamored with the word vacuous/vacuity.”
Intelligent Design explained: Part 1 Introduction - The Panda's Thumb
“The term vacuous doesn't even begin to describe the space betwen Palin's ears.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vacuous’.
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 138 more...
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week 2
deft, clad, innuendo, erroneous, vehement, impetuous, vacuous, corpulent, provincial, din, fluctuate, sporadic and 8 more...
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October Words-11337
During the month of October, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has a...
amplification, till, osmosis, osmoregulation, pinocytosis, junction, transduction, paralysis, afflicted, isotonic, diverse, entrenched and 48 more...
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Do you find it funny?
Strange words I come across every now and then.
neornithe, oriel, vitreous, zenith, saunter, ebb, vacillation, arbitrary, lull, nibble, knead, parched and 5 more...
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phil vocab 3
genocide, superfluous, warfare, indissoluble, sentient, confound, pernicious, dispose, render, amiable, paradox, puritanical and 36 more...
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Other look-ups
Louises One knows one's madnesses, by and large. By and large the knowledge is vacuous. The notion of naming the beast to conquer it is the idiot optimism of psychotherapy. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan. Mar 3, 2012
rolig I don't think I would describe a house as "vacuous" -- a face, an expression, a mind, yes, but not a house. For a house I would use the word "vacant". In fact, checking the Oxford American Dictionary, I see that, under "vacuous", the meaning "empty" is marked as "archaic". Oct 30, 2010
Alexis Perez Empty: The house was vacuous after the family left. (newbury house dic) Oct 30, 2010
jennarenn This word *perfectly* describes the face of one of my students. Some days I want to walk over and check his pulse. Sep 21, 2007