in vacuo

adverb

In a partial or full vacuum.

“The distillation is performed in vacuo to avoid decomposition of the compounds under study.”

OriginLatin in vacuō →
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Meanings

adverb
  1. In a partial or full vacuum.

    The distillation is performed in vacuo to avoid decomposition of the compounds under study.

  2. figurativelyOut of context.

    Their own mental capacity to examine what they saw was sufficient. Nothing was obscene in vacuo.

    1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 106
    1 more example

    But we don't understand sentences like this in vacuo. We understand them relative to certain larger categories of experience […]

    1980, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, chapter 24, in Metaphors We Live By

Origin

  1. Latinin vacuō“in vacuum”
  2. Englishin vacuo

From Latin in vacuō (“in vacuum”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

in vacuo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20vacuo

MLA

“in vacuo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20vacuo. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in vacuo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20vacuo.

Source: in vacuo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.