Standard Lemma guide

vacuole

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈvækjʊˌəʊl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A large membrane-bound vesicle in a cell's cytoplasm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, cytology, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A small empty or air-filled space or vacuity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a tiny cavity filled with fluid in the cytoplasm of a cell

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cavity, bodily cavity, cavum

History

Etymology

From French vacuole, from Medieval Latin vacuola, formed as a diminutive of Latin vacuus (“empty”).

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: վակուոլ (vakuol) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Catalan: vacúol — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 液泡 (yèpào) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Czech: vakuola — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Dutch: vacuole — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Esperanto: vakuolo — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Finnish: vakuoli — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Finnish: solunesteontelo — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Finnish: solunesterakkula — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • French: vacuole — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Galician: vacúolo — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • German: Vakuole — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Greek: κενοτόπιο (kenotópio) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Hebrew: חלולית (khalulít) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Hungarian: sejtnedvüreg — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Hungarian: űröcske — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Ido: vakuolo — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Italian: vacuolo — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Japanese: 液胞 (ekihō) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Kazakh: вакуоль (vakuol) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Latin: vacuola — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Malayalam: ഫേനം (phēnaṁ) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Māori: miru — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Polish: wakuola — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Polish: wodniczka — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Portuguese: vacúolo — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Romanian: vacuolă — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Russian: вакуо́ль (vakuólʹ) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Serbo-Croatian: vakùōla — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Spanish: vacuola — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Tagalog: lungkag — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Telugu: రిక్తిక (riktika) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Turkish: koful — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Ukrainian: вакуо́ля (vakuólja) — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Vietnamese: không bào — large membrane-bound vesicle
  • Welsh: gwagolyn — large membrane-bound vesicle