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vacuous - 4 dictionary results

vac⋅u⋅ous

  [vak-yoo-uhs]
Use vacuous in a Sentence
–adjective
1. without contents; empty: the vacuous air.
2. lacking in ideas or intelligence: a vacuous mind.
3. expressing or characterized by a lack of ideas or intelligence; inane; stupid: a vacuous book.
4. purposeless; idle: a vacuous way of life.
Origin:
1645–55; < L vacuus empty; see -ous

Related forms:
vac⋅u⋅ous⋅ly, adverb
vac⋅u⋅ous⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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vac·u·ous   (vāk'yōō-əs)   
adj.  
  1. Devoid of matter; empty.
    1. Lacking intelligence; stupid.
    2. Devoid of substance or meaning; inane: a vacuous comment.
    3. Devoid of expression; vacant: "The narrow, swinelike eyes were open, no more vacuous in death than they had been in life" (Nicholas Proffitt).
  3. Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle. See Synonyms at empty.

[From Latin vacuus, empty; see vacuum.]
vac'u·ous·ly adv., vac'u·ous·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Vacuous

Vac"u*ous\, a. [L. vacuus. See Vacant.] Empty; unfilled; void; vacant.

Boundless the deep, because I am who fill Infinitude; nor vacuous the space. --Milton.

That the few may lead selfish and vacuous days. --J. Morley.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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vacuous 
1648, "empty," from L. vacuus "empty, void, free" (see vacuum). Figurative sense of "empty of ideas" is from 1848.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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