noun
Meaning 1
A region of space that contains no matter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: vacancy, void
Antonyms: plenum
Standard Lemma guide
vacuum
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
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
/ˈvæ.kjuːm/
-
dated: /ˈvæ.kjuː.əm/
-
US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
CMU ARPABET: V AE1 K Y UW0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
The condition of rarefaction, or reduction of pressure below that of the atmosphere, in a vessel, such as the condenser of a steam engine, which is nearly exhausted of air or steam, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury, or 13 pounds per square inch
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Ellipsis of vacuum cleaner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial, ellipsis
Qualifier: only pluralized as "vacuums"
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: hoover
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A spacetime having tensors of zero magnitude.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A ground state of a quantum field or of local spacetime, or more abstractly the lowest-energy state of a system.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A ground state of a quantum field or of local spacetime, or more abstractly the lowest-energy state of a system.
A description of spacetime resulting from a particular compactification of spatial dimensions.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: string theory
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
An emptiness in life created by a loss of a person who was close, or of an occupation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
An exercise in which one draws their abdomen towards the spine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To clean (something) with a vacuum cleaner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: hoover
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To use a vacuum cleaner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: to do the hoovering, to hoover
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To optimise a database or database table by physically removing deleted tuples.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: computing, databases, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 12
an electrical home appliance that cleans by suction
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: vacuum cleaner
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: home appliance, household appliance
Narrower terms: Hoover
noun
Meaning 13
a region that is devoid of matter
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: vacuity
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: region, part
noun
Meaning 14
an empty area or space
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the huge desert voids
- the emptiness of outer space
- without their support he'll be ruling in a vacuum
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: void, vacancy, emptiness
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: space
noun
Meaning 15
the absence of matter
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: vacuity
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: emptiness
verb
Meaning 16
clean with a vacuum cleaner
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- vacuum the carpets
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: vacuum-clean, hoover
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: clean, make clean
History
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin vacuum (“vacuum”), a subsense of Classical Latin vacuum (“empty space”), a substantivised form of vacuus (“empty”); related to vacāre (“to be empty”). The exercise sense comes from analogy to the sucking action of a vacuum cleaner.
Across languages
Translations
141 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: zbrazëti — region of space that contains no matter
- Albanian: vakum — region of space that contains no matter
- Amharic: ኦና (ʾona) — region of space that contains no matter
- Arabic: خَلَاء (ḵalāʔ) — region of space that contains no matter
- Arabic: فَرَاغ (farāḡ) — region of space that contains no matter
- Arabic: فَضَاء (faḍāʔ) — region of space that contains no matter
- Armenian: վակուում (vakuum) — region of space that contains no matter
- Azerbaijani: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Basque: huts — region of space that contains no matter
- Bulgarian: вакуум (vakuum) — region of space that contains no matter
- Catalan: buit — region of space that contains no matter
- Chinese Mandarin: 真空 (zhēnkōng) — region of space that contains no matter
- Czech: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Danish: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Danish: tomrum — region of space that contains no matter
- Dutch: vacuüm — region of space that contains no matter
- Esperanto: vakuo — region of space that contains no matter
- Finnish: tyhjiö — region of space that contains no matter
- Finnish: vakuumi — region of space that contains no matter
- Finnish: tyhjö — region of space that contains no matter
- French: vide — region of space that contains no matter
- French: vacuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Galician: baleiro — region of space that contains no matter
- Georgian: ვაკუუმი (vaḳuumi) — region of space that contains no matter
- German: Vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Greek: κενό (kenó) — region of space that contains no matter
- Ancient Greek: κένωμα (kénōma) — region of space that contains no matter
- Ancient Greek: κενόν (kenón) — region of space that contains no matter
- Hebrew: ואקום — region of space that contains no matter
- Hebrew: ריק — region of space that contains no matter
- Hindi: निर्वात (nirvāt) — region of space that contains no matter
- Hungarian: vákuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Icelandic: lofttæmi — region of space that contains no matter
- Icelandic: lofttóm — region of space that contains no matter
- Icelandic: tóm — region of space that contains no matter
- Ido: vakuo — region of space that contains no matter
- Ilocano: kawaw — region of space that contains no matter
- Ilocano: kalawakaw — region of space that contains no matter
- Indonesian: hampa udara — region of space that contains no matter
- Indonesian: vakum — region of space that contains no matter
- Interlingua: vacuo — region of space that contains no matter
- Irish: folús — region of space that contains no matter
- Italian: vuoto — region of space that contains no matter
- Japanese: 真空 (shinkū) — region of space that contains no matter
- Khmer: សុញ្ញកាស (soññaʼkaah) — region of space that contains no matter
- Korean: 진공 (jin'gong) — region of space that contains no matter
- Latin: vacuus — region of space that contains no matter
- Malagasy: mangabangabaka — region of space that contains no matter
- Malay: hampagas — region of space that contains no matter
- Malay: ۏاکوم — region of space that contains no matter
- Malay: vakum — region of space that contains no matter
- Malayalam: ശൂന്യത (śūnyata) — region of space that contains no matter
- Maltese: vojt — region of space that contains no matter
- Maltese: frugħ — region of space that contains no matter
- Māori: korekore — region of space that contains no matter
- Norwegian Bokmål: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Norwegian Nynorsk: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Polish: próżnia — region of space that contains no matter
- Portuguese: vácuo — region of space that contains no matter
- Quechua: ch'usaq p'ulin — region of space that contains no matter
- Romanian: vid — region of space that contains no matter
- Russian: ва́куум (vákuum) — region of space that contains no matter
- Serbo-Croatian: vakum — region of space that contains no matter
- Serbo-Croatian: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Serbo-Croatian: zrakoprazan prostor — region of space that contains no matter
- Sicilian: vacanti — region of space that contains no matter
- Slovak: vákuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Slovene: vákuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Spanish: vacuo — region of space that contains no matter
- Sundanese: ᮛᮧᮠᮍᮔ᮪ ᮠᮕ (rohangan hapa) — region of space that contains no matter
- Swahili: ombwe — region of space that contains no matter
- Swedish: vakuum — region of space that contains no matter
- Swedish: tomrum — region of space that contains no matter
- Tagalog: awangin — region of space that contains no matter
- Tamil: வெற்றிடம் (veṟṟiṭam) — region of space that contains no matter
- Telugu: శూన్యం (śūnyaṁ) — region of space that contains no matter
- Thai: สุญญากาศ (sǔn-yaa-gàat) — region of space that contains no matter
- Turkish: vakum — region of space that contains no matter
- Vietnamese: chân không — region of space that contains no matter
- Welsh: gwactod — region of space that contains no matter
- Wolof: féex — region of space that contains no matter
- Yiddish: וואַקוּום (vakuum) — region of space that contains no matter
- Zhuang: caenhoengq — region of space that contains no matter
- Armenian: փոշեկուլով մաքրել (pʻošekulov makʻrel) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Armenian: փոշեծծիչով մաքրել (pʻošeccičʻov makʻrel) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Azerbaijani: tozsoranlamaq — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Bashkir: һурҙырыу (hurźırıw) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Bulgarian: пускам прахосмукачка (puskam prahosmukačka) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Catalan: passar l'aspiradora — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Chinese Mandarin: 吸塵 /吸尘 (xīchén) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Czech: vysát — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Czech: vyluxovat — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Danish: støvsuge — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Dutch: stofzuigen — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Esperanto: polvosuĉi — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Faroese: dustsúgva — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Finnish: imuroida — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- French: passer l'aspirateur — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- German: staubsaugen — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Greek: σκουπίζω (skoupízo) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Hungarian: porszívózik — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Icelandic: ryksuga — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Italian: aspirapolverare — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Norwegian Bokmål: støvsuge — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Norwegian Nynorsk: støvsuge — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Polish: odkurzać — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Polish: odkurzyć — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Portuguese: aspirar — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Russian: пылесо́сить (pylesósitʹ) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Russian: пропылесо́сить (propylesósitʹ) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Spanish: aspirar — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Swedish: dammsuga — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Turkish: süpürmek — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Ukrainian: пилосо́сити (pylosósyty) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Ukrainian: пропилосо́сити (propylosósyty) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Ukrainian: пилотяжити (pylotjažyty) — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Welsh: hwfro — transitive: to clean with a vacuum cleaner
- Armenian: փոշեկուլ անել (pʻošekul anel) — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Bashkir: һурҙырыу (hurźırıw) — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Catalan: passar l'aspiradora — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Czech: vysát — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Czech: vyluxovat — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Danish: støvsuge — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Dutch: stofzuigen — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Faroese: dustsúgva — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Finnish: imuroida — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- French: passer l'aspirateur — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- German: staubsaugen — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Greek: σκουπίζω (skoupízo) — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Hungarian: porszívózik — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Icelandic: ryksuga — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Norwegian Bokmål: støvsuge — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Norwegian Nynorsk: støvsuge — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Polish: odkurzać — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Polish: odkurzyć — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Portuguese: aspirar — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Russian: пылесо́сить (pylesósitʹ) — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Russian: пропылесо́сить (propylesósitʹ) — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Spanish: aspirar — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Swedish: dammsuga — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
- Welsh: hwfro — intransitive: to use a vacuum cleaner
Real reading context