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.")
Click here to go to the Word of the Day page. December 26, 2011 |