-tēnə̇s, -tin- noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English emptinesse, from empty + -nesse -ness
1.
a. : the quality or state of being empty
b. : the quality or state of lacking or being devoid of contents (as typical or customary)
the emptiness of the coal bin
the emptiness of the garage
c. : the quality or state of being uninhabited, unfrequented, or containing no human beings
the emptiness , the blankness of great solitudes — Laurence Binyon
the peculiar emptiness of the green meadows and the tiny hidden lanes — Margery Allingham
2.
a. : barrenness
life … ghastly in its emptiness and sterility — Aldous Huxley
especially : lack of imagination or creative ability
painting marked by simplicity but not emptiness
b. : lack of something necessary to spiritual growth or sustenance
the vulgarity, the cheapness, the showy pretentiousness, the dreadful emptiness of life for the middle classes during the uneasy peace — W.L.Shirer
the spiritual emptiness of army life will have deeply affected the thinking habits of many men — B.B.Seligman
c. : inanity , foolishness , senselessness
he realized the emptiness of mere opposition to the United States on such questions — A.F.Buchan
d. : lack of significant purposefulness : an engaging in purposeless or inane activity
life without a customary companion was emptiness , ennui, restiveness and fidget — Francis Hackett
3. : hunger
the family had sat down, ill-humored from emptiness , to dinner at four o'clock — Ellen Glasgow
4.
a. : lack
they were glad to overlook its frequent emptiness of content — Van Wyck Brooks
b. : lack of warmth, love, or affection
with her children she feels affectionate and at the same time has an impression of emptiness , which she gloomily interprets as complete indifference — H.M.Parshley
c. : marked unhappiness deriving from the loss of something loved
the emptiness of utter loss — F.R.Leavis
d. : sense of loss especially of something desirable
only an emptiness , a feeling that something was over — Stuart Cloete
5. : uninhabited or unknown territory
stood on the shores of this nameless lake at last … saying that we should turn back from the emptiness which stretched ahead — Farley Mowat
appears as a sort of outpost, standing almost on the edge of emptiness — Green Peyton
6. : something lacking significant content : frivolity 2
a play that was nothing more than a competent piece of emptiness
7. Buddhism : nirvana