vacant

Everyday

1. Vacant means empty, not being used or lived in: a vacant seat, a vacant house. tree →
2. A vacant job is one that nobody is doing yet, so someone may be hired. tree →
3. A vacant look or expression shows no thought or interest, as if the person is not paying attention. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life, signs say «Vacant» on toilet doors and «Vacancies» at hotels; a vacant lot is an empty piece of land. In maths word problems, vacant seats or rooms = total − taken. In stories, a vacant stare shows tiredness or shock.

Examples

• Is this seat vacant? tree →
• The toilet sign says «vacant», so you can go in. tree →
• The old shop has been vacant for months. tree →
• The hotel had no vacancies. tree →
• There is a vacant job at the library. tree →
• He gave me a vacant stare. tree →
• The cinema has 120 seats and 85 are taken, so 35 are vacant. tree →
• Old Iktomi led his young Iktomi brood to the place where he had left the turtle, but it was vacant. tree →

Note

Opposite: occupied, taken, engaged (UK toilets). In maths: vacant = total − occupied. «Vacant» describes places; «vacation» (US holiday) comes from the same idea of being empty or free.

In Jewish tradition

The writer uses it for empty space before the world was made, which he links to the Sefer Yetzirah's idea of tohu and bohu, the formless void. In the primary lessons: In everyday life, signs say «Vacant» on toilet doors and «Vacancies» at hotels; a vacant lot is an empty piece of land. In maths word problems, vacant seats or rooms = total − taken. In stories, a vacant stare shows tiredness or shock.

Examples

• Chaos .signified in the ancient cosmogonies the vacant, in- finite space out of which sprang all things that exist. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →

Note

Opposite: occupied, taken, engaged (UK toilets). In maths: vacant = total − occupied. «Vacant» describes places; «vacation» (US holiday) comes from the same idea of being empty or free.