vacuous

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vacuus (“empty, vacant”) +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvækju.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

vacuous (comparative more vacuous, superlative most vacuous)

1. Empty; void; lacking meaningful content.

   Synonyms: empty, vacant; see also Thesaurus:empty

   vacuous expression

   vacuous remark

   The movie was criticized for its vacuous dialogue.

   She gave him a vacuous smile.

2. Showing a lack of thought or intelligence; vacant.

   Synonyms: empty-headed, brainless; see also Thesaurus:stupid

Derived terms

• vacuity
• vacuously
• vacuousness

Related terms

• vacant
• vacuous truth
• vacuum

Translations

lacking meaningful content — see also void,‎ empty

• Arabic: فَارِغ (fāriḡ)
• Bulgarian: празен (bg) m (prazen)
• Catalan: vacu (ca)
• Dutch: nietszeggend (nl)
• Finnish: merkityksetön (fi), ontto (fi), tyhjä (fi)
• French: niais (fr)
• Georgian: ცარიელი (carieli), უაზრო (uazro), უგუნური (ugunuri)
• German: leer (de), nichtssagend (de)
• Hungarian: üres (hu)
• Polish: próżny (pl), pusty (pl)
• Portuguese: vazio (pt)
• Russian: пусто́й (ru) (pustój), пустопорожний (ru) (pustoporožnij), бессмы́сленный (ru) (bessmýslennyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: faoin
• Serbo-Croatian: isprazan (sh)
• Spanish: vacuo (es)
• Swedish: tom (sv), andefattig (sv)
• Welsh: gwag (cy)

showing a lack of thought

• Bulgarian: безмислен (bezmislen)
• French: niais (fr) m
• German: gedankenlos (de)
• Polish: bezmyślny (pl), tępy (pl)
• Scottish Gaelic: faoin
• Welsh: penwan (cy)

See also

• empty-headed