ˈvākənt adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin vacant-, vacans, present participle of vacare to be empty, be free; perhaps akin to Latin vanus empty, vain — more at wane
1. : not filled or occupied by an incumbent, possessor, or officer
appointed to the vacant office
2. : being without content or occupant
a vacant seat in a bus
a vacant room
3. : devoid , destitute — usually used with of
the past, the future, majesty, love … you are vacant of them — Walt Whitman
4. : free from activity
amid the stillness of the vacant night — William Cowper
: free from work or occupation : unoccupied
obliged to spend his vacant hours in a comfortless hotel — Jane Austen
5. : characterized by absence of thought and reflection: as
a. : stupid , foolish , silly , dull
b. : expressionless
she would forget altogether what she was about, and would sit down with a peculiarly vacant look on her face — O.E.Rölvaag
vacant serenity of a … marble athlete — Edith Wharton
c. : marked by a respite from coherent purposive thought and reflection or by freedom from care
when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood — William Wordsworth
6. : of, relating to, or being premises which are not lived in and from which the furniture and fixtures have been removed — compare unoccupied b
7.
a. : not occupied or put to use
vacant land
b. : having no heir or claimant : abandoned
a vacant estate
c. : not granted away — used especially of state lands
Synonyms: see empty