VACANT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Vacant

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/vˈeɪkənt/ Listen

adjective

Vacant adj.

1.

Deprived of contents; not filled; empty; as, a vacant room. "Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form." "Being of those virtues vacant." "There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, But has one vacant chair."

2.

Unengaged with business or care; unemployed; unoccupied; disengaged; free; as, vacant hours. "Religion is the interest of all; but philosophy of those... at leisure, and vacant from the affairs of the world." "There was not a minute of the day which he left vacant."

3.

Not filled or occupied by an incumbent, possessor, or officer; unoccupied; as, a vacant throne; a vacant house; a vacant apartment; a vacant parish. "Special dignities which vacant lie For thy best use and wearing."

4.

Empty of thought; thoughtless; not occupied with study or reflection; as, a vacant mind. "The duke had a pleasant and vacant face." "When on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood."

5.

(Law) Abandoned; having no heir, possessor, claimant, or occupier; as, a vacant estate.

Vacant succession (Law), one that is claimed by no person, or where all the heirs are unknown, or where all the known heirs to it have renounced it.

Synonyms: Empty; void; devoid; free; unemployed; disengaged; unincumbered; uncrowded; idle. Vacant, Empty. A thing is empty when there is nothing in it; as, an empty room, or an empty noddle. Vacant adds the idea of having been previously filled, or intended to be filled or occupied; as, a vacant seat at table; a vacant office; vacant hours. When we speak of a vacant look or a vacant mind, we imply the absence of the intelligence naturally to be expected there.

See images of 'Vacant'

Etymology of 'Vacant'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Vacant" Quotes from Famous Books

... actor, whose life I may be said to have strangely influenced, for it was I who brought him and the Arcadia Mixture together. After that his coming to live on our stair was only a matter of rooms being vacant. ...

— My Lady Nicotine - A Study in Smoke • J. M. Barrie

... a normal condition, and the swelling will probably be confined to both the inside and outside of the leg, and may be felt in the form of a puffy swelling on each side of the fetlock by placing the fore finger and the thumb on the joint. In more serious cases resulting from sprains, the vacant space between the back tendons and the suspensory ligament may also become filled with fluids. In other words, a Wind Gall has formed. In some cases the ...

— The Veterinarian • Chas. J. Korinek

... frankly confessed that he had done all in his power for the boy, but that he was discouraged, and added: "Only yesterday, madam, Robert pertinaciously declared to me that his head was so full of original notions that there was no vacant chamber to store away the contents of any dusty books." The lad was only ten years of age at the time, and, as may be supposed, the good Quaker who directed his education was not a little dismayed ...

— Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made • James D. McCabe, Jr.

... prisoner had reached the vacant lot in front of the store it appeared as if every man, woman, and child in the village were ...

— Down the Slope • James Otis

... he was out of her sight. They nicknamed him her "Paalangi dog," and would whistle to him derisively and shout, "Come 'ere!" secure in the chronic absent-mindedness that had become a joke to them all. When he answered, as he always answered, "Eh, what?" and raised his vacant, moody face, there would be an outburst of laughter, in which he himself joined with a mirthless geniality, like a man unbending to a lot of children. If a shell went off some one was sure to cry, "Eh, what?" and this ...

— Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas • Lloyd Osbourne

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