- 1with no people or things inside an empty box/glass empty hands (= not holding anything) an empty plate (= with no food on it) The theater was half empty. an empty house/room/bus As it got later, the streets became empty. Is this an empty chair (= not one that another person will be using)? The house had been standing empty (= without people living in it) for some time. It's not good to drink alcohol on an empty stomach (= without having eaten something). empty of something (formal) The room was empty of furniture.
- 2[usually before noun] (of something that someone says or does) with no meaning; not meaning what is said synonym hollow empty words an empty promise an empty gesture aimed at pleasing the crowds
- 3(of a person, or a person's life) unhappy because life does not seem to have a purpose, usually after something sad has happened Three months after his death, she still felt empty. My life seems empty without you.
- 4empty of something without a quality that you would expect to be there words that were empty of meaning
NAmE//ˈɛmptəli//
adverb She stood staring emptily into space.See empty in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: empty