empty-vee

proper noun

A nickname for MTV (American cable television channel).

Meanings

empty-vee1

proper noun
  1. USdatedderogatoryhumorousslangAlternative letter-case form of Empty-Vee.

Empty-Vee2

proper noun

alternative eMpTyV · alternative Empty Vee · alternative empty-vee · alternative Empty-V · alternative Emptyv · alternative EmptyV · alternative eMpTy V

  1. USdatedderogatoryhumorousslangA nickname for MTV (American cable television channel).First known use 1980s

    Not the kind of rock that you hear on the radio or see on eMpTyV

    1999, Tom Minarchick, quotee, “Record Reviews”, in Jersey Beat, number 65 (zine), Weehawken, NJ: Jim Testa, →OCLC, unnumbered page, column 2
    4 more examples

    Like “We Are the World,” it too would end up as a video on Empty-Vee (MTV).

    1985 August, James Wolcott, “Mixed Media”, in Tina Brown, editor, Vanity Fair, volume 48, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15

    Meanwhile, the youth of America sit glazed in front of empty-vee watching Monkees reruns.

    1994, David B. Feinberg, Queer and Loathing, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN, page 18

    These clips often break the clichés and formulas of typical videos on “Empty-Vee” as some call [MTV], by using the form of music video in unexpected, provocative ways

    1996, Jack Banks, Monopoly Television: MTV's Quest To Control The Music, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, →ISBN, page 206

    “[…]Am I on that stupid Empty Vee show, the one where the brain dead former male model plays tricks on his rich and vapid celebrity friends?”

    2006, anonymous author, “Rue the Day III (Carpe Diem)”, in Painfully Awkward, Volume Publishing, →ISBN, page 166

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

A pun on MTV (originally "Music Television"; American cable television channel) and empty; from a belief that the channel's programming is vacuous.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with empty-vee

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

empty-vee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empty-vee

MLA

“empty-vee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empty-vee. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “empty-vee,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empty-vee.

Source: empty-vee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.