vacate
Verb
Verb Forms: vacated, vacating, vacates
- To leave a place or position empty.
- leave (a job, post, or position) voluntarily
- "She vacated the position when she got pregnant"
- leave behind empty; move out of
- "You must vacate your office by tonight"
- cancel officially
- "vacate a death sentence"
- To move out of a dwelling or other property, either by choice or by eviction.
- To leave an office or position.
- To have a court judgement set aside; to annul.
- To leave an area, usually as a result of orders from public authorities in the event of a riot or natural disaster.
Examples
- He vacated his coaching position because of the corruption scandal.
- I have to vacate my house by midday, as the new owner is moving in.
- If you do not immediately vacate the area, we will make you leave with tear gas!
- My opponent chose to VACATE a prime scoring spot, and I was quick to capitalize.
- The judge vacated the earlier decision when new evidence was presented.
- You are hereby ordered to vacate the premises within 14 days.
Origin / Etymology
Originally used in the legal sense "to annul", a denominal from Early Modern English vacat (“legal annulment”), a development from Middle English vacat (“absence or cancellation noted in a register”), from Latin vacat, third-person singular present active indicative of vacō (“to be idle; to be unoccupied”, literally “to be empty”).
The primary modern sense "to move out" likely developed under the influence of older borrowing vacant (“unoccupied”), in combination with the Early Modern use of vacate to refer to the termination of official appointments to office, which would leave those position vacant.
Synonyms
abandon, annul, countermand, empty, give up, lift, overturn, renounce, repeal, rescind, resign, reverse, revoke
Scrabble Score: 11
vacate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordvacate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
vacate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary