- 1with no people or things inside an empty box/glass empty hands (= not holding anything) an empty plate (= with no food on it) The theater was half empty. an empty house/room/bus As it got later, the streets became empty. Is this an empty chair (= not one that another person will be using)? The house had been standing empty (= without people living in it) for some time. It's not good to drink alcohol on an empty stomach (= without having eaten something). empty of something (formal) The room was empty of furniture.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- 2[usually before noun] (of something that someone says or does) with no meaning; not meaning what is said synonym hollow empty words an empty promise an empty gesture aimed at pleasing the crowds
- 3(of a person, or a person's life) unhappy because life does not seem to have a purpose, usually after something sad has happened Three months after his death, she still felt empty. My life seems empty without you.
- 4empty of something without a quality that you would expect to be there words that were empty of meaning
NAmE//ˈɛmptəli//
adverb She stood staring emptily into space.See empty in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: empty