Meanings
- Divorced from its proper context and therefore suffering from incomplete analysis.
He is fond of saying that "nothing happens in a vacuum", by which he means that external factors always matter in at least some ways; sometimes he exaggerates this principle by claiming polemically that "there are no coincidences".
1 more example
Speaking at a UN general debate on the Middle East in New York, Guterres created fury when he said: “It is important to … recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
2023 October 25, Patrick Wintour, quoting António Guterres, “Israel says it will ban UN staff after secretary general’s comments”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
Translations
Italian fuori da un contesto
- fuori da un contestodivorced from its proper context
Cite this entry
in a vacuum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20a%20vacuum
“in a vacuum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20a%20vacuum. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in a vacuum,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20a%20vacuum.
Source: in a vacuum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.