Word.ws English Dictionary

empty

Syllables: emp·ty/ˈɪm(p).ti//ˈɛm(p).ti/

empty adjective: devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

empty: devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant
Image: Amine Charnoubi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

empty (comparative emptier, superlative emptiest)

  1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
    • an empty purse
    • an empty jug
    Antonyms:
    full
  2. Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
    Antonyms:
    non-empty
  3. (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
    • And I ſhal finde you emptie of that fault,
      Right ioyfull of your reformation.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • For that fair femal Troop thou sawst, that seemd
      Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
      Yet empty of all good wherein consists
      Womans domestic honour and chief praise;1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
    • I hope our Ladies treaſure and our owne,
      May ſerue for ranſome to our liberties:
      Returne our Mules and emptie Camels backe,
      That we may trauell into Siria, […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
    • I hope it remaines not vnkindly with your Lordſhip, that I return'd you an empty Meſſenger.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
    • empty words, or threats
    • empty offer
  6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
    • empty pleasures
    • Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days,
      Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise;1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 18
  7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
    • empty dreams
  8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
    • empty brains
    • an empty coxcomb
  9. (especially cows and sheep) Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.
    • Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.
  10. (obsolete) Producing nothing; unfruitful.
    • an empty vine
    • […] and the seuen emptie eares blasted with the East wind[…]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 41:27
  11. Hungry.
  12. Lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish.
    • Grotesquely vegetal, excessively oaked, empty wines were routinely produced in the mid-1980s. Since the late 1980s, however, the quality has soared.1993, Robert M. Parker, Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, page 967
    Synonyms:
    hollow

Verb

empty (third-person singular simple present empties, present participle emptying, simple past and past participle emptied)

  1. (ergative, transitive) To make empty; to remove the contents of.
    • to empty a well or a cistern
    • The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.
    Synonyms:
    void, evacuate
  2. (intransitive) Of a river, duct, etc: to drain or flow toward an ultimate destination.
    • Salmon River empties on the W shore about 2 miles below Bear River.
    • Of these the Rhine empties into the Northern ocean and the Danube into the Euxine.1899 [2nd century], Horace White, transl., Appian

Noun

empty (plural empties)

  1. (in plural) A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.
    • Put the empties out to be recycled.
    • The east-west flow consists in the westerly direction of the agricultural and industrial products of East Anglia; imports through London and Parkeston (Harwich); special traffic in coke to the Northamptonshire ironfield; and mineral empties returning to the Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and South...1954 August, “Marshalling Yard Reorganisation, Eastern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 570

empty meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

empty in Hindi

devoid of content
रीता rītā, छूछा chūchā, ख़ाली xālī
to make empty
रिक्त करना rikt karnā

empty in Tamil

devoid of content
காலி kāli, வெறுமை veṟumai, வெற்று veṟṟu

empty in Marathi

empty, void
शून्य śūnya
empty, void, vacant, hollow
रिकामे rikāme
empty
रिते rite, मोकळे mokḷe

empty in Urdu

devoid of content
چھوچھا chūchā, خالی xālī
to make empty
خالی کرنا xālī karnā
More languagesFewer languages
empty in Bengali
খালি khali, ফাঁকা phãka, খালি করা khali kora
empty in Telugu
ఖాళీ khāḷī, ఒట్టి oṭṭi
empty in Malayalam
ഒഴിഞ്ഞ oḻiñña, തരിശ് tariśŭ
empty in Kannada
ಖಾಲಿ khāli
empty in Punjabi
ਫੋਕਾ phokā, ਸੱਖਣਾ sakkhaṇā, ਖ਼ਾਲੀ xālī
empty in Gujarati
સૂનું sūnũ
empty in Odia
ଖାଲି khāli, ଛୁଛା chuchā
empty in Sanskrit
तुच्छ tucchá, रिक्त riktá, तुच्छ्य tucchyá, पूल्य pūlya
empty in Sinhala
සිස් sis
empty in Assamese
খালী khali, আজৰা azora, শুদা কৰা xuda kora, উদং কৰা udoṅ kora
empty in Nepali
खाली khālī, रित्तो ritto, रिक्त rikta
empty in Tagalog
basyo, basyuhin
empty in Arabic
فَارِغ fāriḡ, فَرَغَ faraḡa
empty in Malay
kosong, mengosongkan
empty in Indonesian
kosong
empty in Persian
خالی xâli, تهی tohi, پوچ puč, خالی کردن xâli kardan
empty in Thai
ว้าง wáang, หว่า wàa
empty in Vietnamese
trống, rỗng, tẩy trống, tẩy sạch
empty in Myanmar
လွတ် lwat

Examples of empty in a sentence

  • The suspected thief was requested to empty her pockets.
  • The train starts to empty at North Walsham, and then there is an exodus at Cromer.2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 54:
  • And I will giue this people fauour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to passe that when ye goe, ye shall not goe empty:1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 3:21:
  • […] words are but empty thanks; my future conduct best will speak my gratitude.1697, Colley Cibber, Woman's Wit, act V, page 190:
  • The coach is almost empty for the final few miles into Sheringham.2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 54:

All 40 example sentences with empty

Synonyms of empty

4 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

9 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of empty

Forms of empty

Adjective
comparativeemptier
superlativeemptiest
Verb
third-person singular presentempties
present participleemptying
past participleemptied
pastemptied
Noun
pluralempties

Past tense of empty: emptied

Origin of empty

From Middle English emty, amty, from Old English ǣmtiġ, ǣmettiġ (“vacant, empty, free, idle, unmarried”, literally “without must or obligation, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”) + Proto-Germanic *mōtijô, *mōtô (“must, obligation, need”), *mōtiþô (“ability, accommodation”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“measure; to acquire, possess, be in command”). Related to Old English ġeǣmtigian (“to empty”), ǣmetta (“leisure”), mōtan (“can, to be allowed”). More at mote, meet. The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.

Words formed from empty

Phrases with empty

28 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about empty

What does empty mean?
Empty means devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
What is empty in Hindi?
Empty in Hindi is रीता (rītā), छूछा (chūchā), ख़ाली (xālī). See Empty meaning in Hindi.
How do you use empty in a sentence?
The suspected thief was requested to empty her pockets.
What part of speech is empty?
Empty can be an adjective, a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce empty?
Empty is pronounced /ˈɛm(p).ti/ (UK).

Words near empty in the dictionary

  1. emptional
  2. emptive
  3. emptor
  4. emptors
  5. empts
  6. empty
  7. empty as a pauper's purse
  8. empty as the tomb on Easter
  9. empty barrels make the most noise
  10. empty base
  11. empty bases

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: empty (page history and authors); मोकळे (Marathi) (page history and authors); ਖ਼ਾਲੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); સૂનું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଖାଲି (Odia) (page history and authors); तुच्छ (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); සිස් (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-empty.ogg, en-us-empty.ogg.

Cite this entry: “empty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/empty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.