Meanings
emptiness1
plural emptinesses · alternative obsolete emptinesse
- countableuncountableThe state or feeling of being empty; an emotion that combines hollowness, numbness, disconnection and a lack of meaning in life, resulting in existential boredom, ennui or depression.
- countableuncountableA void; a nothingness; something lacking existence.
2 more examples
Few people without a training in science can realise the huge isolation of the solar system. The sun with its specks of planets, its dust of planetoids, and its impalpable comets, swims in a vacant immensity that almost defeats the imagination. Beyond the orbit of Neptune there is space, vacant so far as human observation has penetrated, without warmth or light or sound, blank emptiness, for twenty million times a million miles. That is the smallest estimate of the distance to be traversed before the very nearest of the stars is attained.
1897, H. G. Wells, The Star (Science Fiction)It seems that they existed in some sort of previous incarnation of our universe, and use abstract terms to describe their existence, such as "feeding on concepts". They prepared for some sort of ascension, but then the Pattern came, which they describe at first as an all-consuming emptiness, elaborating by saying that anything that passed into it was torn asunder, subjected to a set of principles and order that grinds things down to nothing, in a process of which entropy is just one part.
2019 January 7, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: Pattern Screamers” (6:12 from the start), in The Exploring Series, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2023 - countableuncountableA nonexistence; a lack of existence.
Emptiness2
- astronomyA Chinese constellation near Aquarius and Equuleus, one of the 28 lunar mansions and part of the Black Turtle.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
emptiness · noun
- Old Englishǣmtiġnes
- Middle Englishemptynesse
- Englishemptiness
Inherited from Middle English emptynesse, from Old English ǣmtiġnes. By surface analysis, empty + -ness.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κενότης
- κενότης (kenótēs)the state or feeling of being empty
Bulgarian празнота
- празнота (praznota)the state or feeling of being empty
Catalan buidor, buidesa
- buidorthe state or feeling of being empty
- buidesathe state or feeling of being empty
Chinese Mandarin 空虛 /空虚, 空洞
- 空虛 /空虚 (kōngxū)the state or feeling of being empty
- 空洞 (kōngdòng)the state or feeling of being empty
Czech prázdnota
- prázdnotathe state or feeling of being empty
Danish tomhed
- tomhedthe state or feeling of being empty
Dutch leegte
- leegtethe state or feeling of being empty
Finnish tyhjyys
- tyhjyysthe state or feeling of being empty
French vide, néant
- videthe state or feeling of being empty
- néantthe state or feeling of being empty
- vacuitéthe state or feeling of being empty
German Leere, Leerheit
- Leerethe state or feeling of being empty
- Leerheitthe state or feeling of being empty
Greek κενότητα
- κενότητα (kenótita)the state or feeling of being empty
Hebrew רֵיקָנוּת
- רֵיקָנוּת (reikanút)the state or feeling of being empty
Hindi रिक्तता, शून्यता
- रिक्तता (riktatā)the state or feeling of being empty
- शून्यता (śūnyatā)the state or feeling of being empty
Hungarian üresség
- ürességthe state or feeling of being empty
Irish foilmhe
- foilmhethe state or feeling of being empty
Japanese 空虚, 空
- 空虚 (kūkyo)the state or feeling of being empty
- 空 (kara)the state or feeling of being empty
- 虚しさ (munashisa)the state or feeling of being empty
- 空っぽ (karappo)the state or feeling of being empty
Māori tīaretanga
- tīaretangathe state or feeling of being empty
Norwegian tomhet
- tomhetthe state or feeling of being empty
Polish pustka
- pustkathe state or feeling of being empty
Portuguese vazio
- vaziothe state or feeling of being empty
Russian пустота́
- пустота́ (pustotá)the state or feeling of being empty
Spanish vaciedad
- vaciedadthe state or feeling of being empty
Swedish tomhet
- tomhetthe state or feeling of being empty
Ukrainian порожне́ча
- порожне́ча (porožnéča)the state or feeling of being empty
Cite this entry
emptiness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/emptiness
“emptiness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/emptiness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “emptiness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/emptiness.
Source: emptiness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.