- a space that is completely empty of all substances, including all air or other gas
- a vacuum pump (= one that creates a vacuum)
- vacuum-packed foods (= in a package from which most of the air has been removed)
Extra ExamplesTopics Physics and chemistryc1- Other gases rush in to fill the vacuum.
- The machine then creates a vacuum.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- perfect
- cultural
- moral
- …
- create
- leave
- produce
- …
- [usually singular] a situation in which somebody/something is missing
- His resignation has created a vacuum which cannot easily be filled.
- The writer criticized the moral vacuum in society.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- perfect
- cultural
- moral
- …
- create
- leave
- produce
- …
- [usually singular] the act of cleaning something with a vacuum cleaner
- to give a room a quick vacuum
Word Originmid 16th cent.: modern Latin, neuter of Latin vacuus ‘empty’.
Idioms
See vacuum in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee vacuum in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishin a vacuum
- existing separately from other people, events, etc. when there should be a connection
- This kind of decision cannot ever be made in a vacuum.
Check pronunciation:
vacuum