1
as in devoid
lacking contents that could or should be present
a great vacuous space that should have been filled with an audience
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
a movie that was enthusiastically derided for its vacuous dialogue
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of vacuous
In the Middle East, Moscow’s old claim to be an indispensable broker appears totally vacuous.
—
Jeremy Shapiro, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2025
Enclosed by barriers and protected by African guards who call out to each other like a Greek chorus, the headquarters that house Horn, Cal, and his team operates as a vacuous black hole of containers and equipment.
—Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
Gavras, working from a script he co-wrote with Pulitzer-finalist playwright Will Arbery, seems to be poking fun at the vacuous postures of the oligarch class, just as Ruben Östlund and many other filmmakers have in recent years.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025
Fallon, for his part, plays his usual role of affable if vacuous host.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vacuous
Jeremy Shapiro, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2025
Enclosed by barriers and protected by African guards who call out to each other like a Greek chorus, the headquarters that house Horn, Cal, and his team operates as a vacuous black hole of containers and equipment.
—Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
Gavras, working from a script he co-wrote with Pulitzer-finalist playwright Will Arbery, seems to be poking fun at the vacuous postures of the oligarch class, just as Ruben Östlund and many other filmmakers have in recent years.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025
Fallon, for his part, plays his usual role of affable if vacuous host.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vacuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vacuous
Adjective
-
Banking has become functionally correct but emotionally devoid, with the industry swimming in a sea of sameness.—
Michael Abbott,
Forbes,
19 Mar. 2025
-
That devoid ingredient hindered things exponentially.—
Roderick Boone,
Charlotte Observer,
15 Feb. 2024
Adjective
-
And then quite a bit of dumb bits, like really dumb bits.—
Eric Ducker,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
-
The multi-vehicle pile-up that ensues might go even dumber than a Rusko drop, yet there’s no escaping the anxiety that remains in the static hiss that closes the track.—
James Gui,
Pitchfork,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
An empty mount later seen attached to the doorframe appears to match one designed for a Google product.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
-
As malls have closed because of shifting consumer shopping habits and a desire for more lucrative development opportunities, the expansive empty buildings have taken on a new draw as a kind of postapocalyptic wasteland, much to the chagrin of local officials.—
Roger Vincent,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Such as the one where the candidate remarked that some white rural Americans were stupid and racist.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The Leafs’ priority at the trade deadline must be restocking their barren cupboards with high draft picks and intriguing prospects.—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
-
In 2016, a team led by Su Yinquan, dean of forestry at Northwest A&F University, leased 14 hectares of barren Gobi land in Xinjiang to test whether Duzhong could survive and grow there.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
That builds on similar trends throughout 2025, when the industry buoyed an otherwise slow labor market, as the nation’s hospitals, clinics and nursing homes kept hiring even as many employers pulled back.—
Abha Bhattarai,
Washington Post,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Any type of realism was [limited to] very short clips, everything was very slow, bad textures, no skin textures, lacking detail.—
Arjun Kharpal,
CNBC,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Feltner’s routine was pretty simple.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
12 Feb. 2026
-
Crime 101 takes the same view of quid pro quo as the most basic form of American commerce and makes simple but brutal points about value and self-worth, where your car, its year, make and model, matters more than your resumé.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
These caverns under sidewalks could be used for storage, and circular pieces of thick glass in the sidewalk added natural light to these eerie underground chambers.—
Jacques Kelly,
Baltimore Sun,
7 Feb. 2026
-
The Bucklebury countryside is known for its thick woodlands, which add an extra layer of privacy to the exclusive area, attracting a less-flashy set.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
7 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Vacuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vacuous. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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