Vacance

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A state of being unoccupied or empty ; a period when a position or role is not filled ; a time free from work or obligations, often for rest or travel
2. Describing an interval with no current occupant ; referring to a job, role, or seat temporarily without someone filling it ; a stretch when regular duties are suspended for leisure or respite
3. The condition when something is vacant or not in use ; the temporary absence of someone in a post or office ; a span typically set aside for relaxation away from normal responsibilities

Etymology: "Vacance" reached English from Middle French, where it was the ordinary word for an empty post or a period of unoccupied time. Its Medieval Latin source, "vacantia," came from the Latin "vacare," meaning "to be empty" or "to be free from," which also gave English "vacant" and "vacate." The French term carried the sense of a position left unfilled, and English took it on with that same administrative flavour. The most distinctive thing about the word is the way it split into two English forms. "Vacancy" and "vacance" are doublets, two descendants of one Latin root that arrived by different routes. "Vacancy" is the older, more fully absorbed form, while "vacance" kept a more French feel and survives mainly in the sense of an unoccupied post or a suspended spell of duties, such as a court or university break. The same root thus gave English both a general word for emptiness and a more specialised term for a seat or season left open.

Synonyms: vacancy, opening, emptiness, void, gap

Antonyms: occupation, fullness, employment, presence