vacant
pronunciation
How to pronounce vacant in British English: UK [ˈveɪkənt]
How to pronounce vacant in American English: US [ˈveɪkənt]
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- Adjective:
- void of thought or knowledge
- without an occupant or incumbent
Word Origin
- vacant
- vacant: [13] Latin vacāre meant ‘be empty’. Its present participle vacāns has provided English with vacant, while its past participle lies behind English vacate [17] and vacation [14]. It also formed the basis of an adjective vacuus ‘empty’, from which English gets vacuous [17] and vacuum [16] (the term vacuum cleaner is first recorded in 1903, and the consequent verb vacuum in 1922). English avoid and void come from a variant of Latin vacāre.=> vacate, vacuum
- vacant (adj.)
- c. 1300, "not filled, held, or occupied," from Old French vacant "idle, unoccupied" (of an office, etc.), from Latin vacantem (nominative vacans), "empty, unoccupied," present participle of vacare "to be empty" (see vain). Meaning "characterized by absence of mental occupation" is from 1570s. Related: Vacantly.
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. An attendant at 14 wall st. says the space is vacant .
- 2. Good afternoon , is there a vacant room here ?
- 3. The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes .
- 4. Although unemployed , they are not really competing for the jobs that fall vacant and are thus not putting much downward pressure on wages .
- 5. An estate agent from property consulting afghanistan waits to show clients a vacant residence .