Word.ws English Dictionary

nature abhors a vacuum

nature abhors a vacuum phrase: generating and maintaining a near-vacuum is challenging (requiring technical rigor) because ambient pressure tends to push matter forcefully into the evacuated chamber; and generating a true vacuum (devoid of any matter at all) is extremely challenging.

Phrase

nature abhors a vacuum

  1. (idiomatic) Generating and maintaining a near-vacuum is challenging (requiring technical rigor) because ambient pressure tends to push matter forcefully into the evacuated chamber; and generating a true vacuum (devoid of any matter at all) is extremely challenging.
    • The development of practical electric light bulbs was challenging not least because nature abhors a vacuum: removing all air from the bulbs was not as easy as it at first seemed.
  2. (idiomatic) Generating a vacuum is impossible (a vacuum can never exist) owing to the inherent nature of the universe.
    • The ancients believed that nature abhors a vacuum.
  3. A power vacuum will usually be filled quickly.

Questions about nature abhors a vacuum

What does nature abhors a vacuum mean?
Nature abhors a vacuum means generating and maintaining a near-vacuum is challenging (requiring technical rigor) because ambient pressure tends to push matter forcefully into the evacuated chamber; and generating a true vacuum (devoid of any matter at all) is extremely challenging.
What part of speech is nature abhors a vacuum?
Nature abhors a vacuum is a phrase.

Words near nature abhors a vacuum in the dictionary

  1. naturally
  2. naturalness
  3. naturalnesses
  4. naturals
  5. nature
  6. nature abhors a vacuum
  7. nature beckons
  8. nature calls
  9. nature deficit disorder
  10. nature deficit disorders
  11. nature faker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nature abhors a vacuum (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:

Cite this entry: “nature abhors a vacuum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nature_abhors_a_vacuum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.