va ‧ cant /ˈveɪkənt/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: Latin , present participle of vacare 'to be empty, be free' ]
1 . a vacant seat, building, room, or piece of land is empty and available for someone to use:
Only a few apartments were still vacant.
There was only a vacant lot (=empty unused area of land in a city) where her house used to be.
REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say that a seat or room is free rather than vacant :
▪
Is this seat free?
2 . formal a job or position in an organization that is vacant is available for someone to start doing
fall vacant British English (=become vacant)
He was offered the position of headmaster when it fell vacant.
situations vacant British English (=the part of a newspaper where jobs are advertised)
3 . vacant expression/look/stare etc written an expression that shows that someone does not seem to be thinking about anything:
He gazed at me with vacant eyes.
—vacantly adverb :
Cindy was staring vacantly into space.