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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of vacuous
Maybe John-John was a vacuous jock type, but even hunks have souls.
—
Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2026
The book is padded out by big type, airy leading and slight, vacuous tributes to the likes of Gregory Peck and Truman Capote produced for organs like the American Film Institute or the Book of the Month club.
—Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
Hollywood, having decided that no spectacle is too vacuous, no common denominator too low, has aligned itself with OneTaste.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
People feel free to throw out the first, poorly-thought-out, vacuous reaction to any news story — whether based in fact or fiction, and regardless of negative consequences.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vacuous
Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2026
The book is padded out by big type, airy leading and slight, vacuous tributes to the likes of Gregory Peck and Truman Capote produced for organs like the American Film Institute or the Book of the Month club.
—Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
Hollywood, having decided that no spectacle is too vacuous, no common denominator too low, has aligned itself with OneTaste.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
People feel free to throw out the first, poorly-thought-out, vacuous reaction to any news story — whether based in fact or fiction, and regardless of negative consequences.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 19 Sep. 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
-
Rock and pop are often unsophisticated, or downright dumb.—
Jed Gottlieb,
Boston Herald,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Urban infrastructure, after all, is still pretty dumb—forcing robotaxis to be designed around transit systems that are decades old.—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Her home had been a house of mourning, a symbol of resilience, a family cornerstone, and now—bright shock—the empty scene of an unseen crime.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Police searched the house and found a Powerade bottle that was largely empty, but contained some residue at the bottom.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Of course, sometimes the situation is more serious than stupid.—
Isaac Stanley-Becker,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress.—
Lauren Green,
The Washington Examiner,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
In some places, fish catches declined precipitously in medium depths, which Joye attributes to nutritionally barren conditions.—
Jeffrey Marlow,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
-
His dread turned to panic when Hochheiser, 79, was unloaded at Villa Rosa III, a 48-bed assisted living home with peeling paint, burglar bars, barren planters and a history of poor care.—
Carol Marbin Miller,
Miami Herald,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
In fact, businesses hired workers at their slowest pace since 2011, excluding the onset of the pandemic in 2020.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
3 Apr. 2026
-
The area’s large tourist population contributes a constant volume of unfamiliar drivers to already heavily congested roads, with traffic patterns that shift significantly between peak tourist season and the summer months but never truly slow to manageable levels on the area’s major corridors.—
Anton Lucanus
April 3,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Build buffer time, trim one commitment, then return to the itinerary with even gentler expectations and a simpler packing list.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Parents, guardians, aunts and uncles don't have time to read every book on the shelf while trying to pick something for the young reader in their life, so here are some simple ways to determine if a book is suitable for that child.—
Cody Godwin,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Louise touched her phone screen to look at the picture of Diana again—gorgeous Diana smiling into the wind, all that thick hair billowing.—
Catherine Lacey,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
-
The slide appears to have involved a thick slab of soft snow breaking loose at a weak layer in the snowpack, the report said.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Vacuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vacuous. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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