vacant

The word "vacant" means empty. We use it as an adjective to describe a place that doesn’t have any people or things in it:

• You can go to your hotel room now if it’s vacant. (The word "vacant" is important to know if you work at a hotel.)
• The house next door to us is vacant. The people who lived there left a couple of months ago.
• There are several vacant apartments in this building.
• There’s a vacant table. We can sit there.
• That teaching position is still vacant.
• I don’t have any good ideas to offer you. My mind is totally vacant.

The noun form for this word is "vacancy."

• The hotel has several vacancies this week.
• Mitch doesn’t know of any vacancies at the company he works for. (a vacancy at a company is a job opening that needs to be filled.)
• There’s a "no vacancy" sign outside of that hotel, so they aren’t accepting any more guests tonight.

The verb form is "vacate."

• They need to vacate their apartment by the end of the month.
• Everyone has to vacate the building. There’s a fire on the fourth floor. (While "vacate" is a possibility in this sentence, you could also use "leave" or "exit.")

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December 26, 2011