adjective | verb
emptyempty1 /ˈempti/ adjective (emptier, emptiest) 1 
with nothing inside or on the surface► empty having nothing inside: Her glass was empty, so I offered her more lemonade. There’s an empty box under the stairs if you need it.
► blank without any writing, print, or recorded sound: She took out a blank sheet of paper and started drawing. Here’s a blank CD you can copy the data onto.
► bare a room, building, or area that is bare has very little furniture or other things in it: The room was completely bare except for a bed against the wall.
► hollow having an empty space inside: Sometimes small animals will make nests in a hollow tree.
2 without any people► empty a place that is empty has no one in it or no one using it: The house was dark and looked empty. We went looking for them in the restaurant, but the place was empty.
► vacant a vacant room, seat, building, or area of land is empty and available for someone to use: Many people have moved out of Detroit, and there are a lot of vacant buildings there. There are a few vacant seats in back.
► free a seat, space, or room that is free is empty and available to use because no one else is using it right now: Is this seat free?
► deserted a place that is deserted is empty and quiet because there are no longer any people there: At night the streets are deserted.
► uninhabited an uninhabited place has no one living there: There are some islands off the coast of Africa that are uninhabited.
► unoccupied (formal) something such as a seat, house, or room that is unoccupied is not being lived in or used: We had to look around to find an unoccupied bench in the gardens.
ANTONYMS ➔ see full3 without any buildings or other features► empty with no buildings, trees, mountains, or other things that you can look at: The prairies seem like an empty landscape to people who are used to cities.
► bleak a place that is bleak is empty and makes you feel sad and lonely: The snow-covered coast looked bleak.
► desolate a place that is desolate is empty and makes you feel very sad and lonely: We looked out over a desolate landscape of bare trees and stony fields.
► barren a place that is barren has no trees or plants growing in it: Not many animals can survive in the hot barren desert.
adjective | verb
emptyempty2 /ˈempti/ verb (past tense and past participle emptied, empties) ► empty to take out everything that is inside something: He emptied his pockets, placing his keys and wallet on the desk. My job was to empty all the trash from the trash cans around the park.
► drain to take out all of the water or liquid that is inside something: They drain and clean the swimming pool every winter. Drain the water from the pot of pasta, and put the pasta in the bowls.
► clear out to empty something such as a building, room, or cupboard because you no longer want the things that are in it: I found a pile of old letters while I was clearing out my desk. We had to clear out all the dead leaves from the sandbox before the kids could play there.
► unload to take things out of a vehicle or large piece of equipment: Help me unload the groceries from the trunk of the car. Would you unload the dishwasher and put the dishes away please?
► unpack to take everything out of a suitcase or box: At the hotel, I unpacked the suitcase and put my clothes in the dresser. I won’t unpack anything until we have moved all the boxes from the other house.
► evacuate to make people leave a place, because the place is dangerous: The police evacuated people before the hurricane. They had to evacuate a 20-mile area after the nuclear disaster.
ANTONYMS ➔ see fillGRAMMAR CHECK: emptyYou can empty a container or place: He emptied the trash can. You can also empty things that are in a container or place: He emptied the trash from the trash can.The other words in this entry can be used in the same way: I drained the bathtub. | I drained the water from the bathtub.