Vacantness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being empty or unfilled encompasses both physical emptiness and a lack of engagement or thoughtfulness
2. A condition characterized by absence, where space is devoid of occupants and where there is a lack of mental presence or awareness
3. The quality of having unoccupied or unfilled space ; a state where the mind shows absence of thought or attention

Etymology: Vacantness is a plain formation: the adjective "vacant" with the suffix "-ness" attached, the same suffix found in "kindness" or "darkness." The suffix comes down through Old English "-nes" and Middle English "-nesse," and it is one of the most productive ways English turns an adjective into a noun naming a quality or state. So the word means, quite literally, the state of being vacant. The adjective behind it is the more interesting half. "Vacant" comes from Latin "vacans," the present participle of "vacare," meaning "to be empty" or "to be free from something." That same root gives English "vacate" and "vacation," which originally described a period free from duties rather than a holiday, and "vacuum," an emptied space. The noun form, however, carries the adjective's two senses into a single idea: a physical space with no occupant, and a mind with no one at home.

Synonyms: emptiness, vacancy, void, desolation

Antonyms: fullness, occupation, completeness, engagement