vacuity

English

Alternative forms

• vacuitie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin vacuitās (“empty space, vacancy, vacuity”); equivalent to vacu(ous) +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /væˈkjuːɪtɪ/, /vəˈkjuːɪtɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /vaˈkjuːɪti/, /vəˈkjuːɪti/

Noun

vacuity (countable and uncountable, plural vacuities)

1. Emptiness.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     The meanes I use to suppresse this frenzy, and which seemeth the fittest for my purpose, is to crush, and trample this humane pride and fiercenesse under foot, to make them feele the emptinesse, vacuitie, and no worth of man […].

   • 1748, [David Hume], chapter III, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 13:

     to find so sensible a breach or vacuity in the course of the passions, by means of this breach in the connexion of ideas […].

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 23, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     The Baronet was not more animated than ordinarily—there was a happy vacuity about him which enabled him to face a dinner, a death, a church, a marriage, with the same indifferent ease.

   • 2023 November 13, Rosalind Jana, “Saltburn and the bizarre life of Britain's stately homes”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     At first glance, Saltburn is classic clash-of-the-classes fare: a tale of social strata, moral vacuity and the seductions of wealth, with a poor boy ushered into his rich friend's kingdom.

2. Physical emptiness, an absence of matter; vacuum.
3. Idleness; listlessness.
4. An empty or inane remark or thing.

Translations

emptiness

• Arabic: فَرَاغ (farāḡ)
• Bulgarian: празнота (bg) f (praznota)
• French: vacuité (fr) f
• Georgian: სიცარიელე (sicariele)
• Greek: κενότητα (el) f (kenótita)
• Irish: foilmhe f
• Italian: vacuità (it) f
• Japanese: 空 (ja) (から, kara)
• Portuguese: vacuidade (pt) f

vacuum

• Arabic: فَرَاغ (farāḡ), حَيِّز (ḥayyiz)
• Bulgarian: празнота (bg) f (praznota), вакуум (bg) m (vakuum)
• French: vacuité (fr) f
• Georgian: ვაკუუმი (vaḳuumi)
• Greek: κενό (el) n (kenó)
• Japanese: 空 (ja) (から, kara)
• Portuguese: vácuo (pt) m

idleness

• Portuguese: inatividade (pt) f

a pointless or inane remark

• Portuguese: vacuidade (pt) f

Further reading

• vacuity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia