vacuum

Word family

1. [countableC]HPEMPTY a space that is completely empty of all gas, especially one from which all the air has been taken away 真空 →4 See picture on 见图 Page A3 Cleaning 清洁；打扫

2. [countableC]DHC a vacuum cleaner 真空吸尘器

3 [singular]NOT HAVE a situation in which someone or something is missing or lacking 空白；空虚

create/leave a vacuum (in something)

Her husband’s death left a vacuum in her life.

丈夫的去世使她的生活变得空虚。

power/political/moral etc vacuum

the political vacuum caused by the ban on Communist Party activity

禁止共产党活动引发的政治真空状态

4 in a vacuum SEPARATEexisting completely separately from other people or things and having no connection with them 在封闭状态中；与外界隔绝

The process of learning a language does not take place in a vacuum.

学习语言的过程在封闭状态下无法进行。

Examples from the Corpus

in a vacuum• Simple suction is out, because gecko feet work perfectly, even in a vacuum.• Attitudes towards employment, retirement, and early retirement are not formed in a vacuum.• But these things don't happen in a vacuum.• These laws were not made in a vacuum.• It was a marriage in a vacuum, with two sweet children and all the material trappings of affluence and success.• The aerodynamic buffeting had stopped, and it was now spinning quietly in vacuum.• Any other action, like travelling faster or slower in a vacuum, is forbidden.• The iron lung encased Virginia in a vacuum.

n COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 3: a situation in which someone or something is missing or lacking

verbs

create a vacuum

His sudden departure created a vacuum at the head of the company.

leave a vacuum

The disappearance of religious beliefs has left a vacuum in many people's lives.

fill a vacuum

What political ideas have filled the vacuum left by the fall of communism?

adjectivesADJECTIVES/NOUN + vacuum

a power vacuum

The leader's sudden death created a power vacuum.

a political vacuum

Military leaders stepped in to fill the political vacuum.

a moral vacuum (=a lack of moral standards)

Many children are growing up in a moral vacuum.

a policy vacuum

There is a policy vacuum on climate change.

Examples from the Corpus

vacuum• His adolescence and young manhood had occurred in a vacuum.• This made a partial vacuum, which kept the cardboard attached to the mouth of the glass.• He shook religion out of her mind, as it were, and into the vacuum rushed something rather disagreeable.

power/political/moral etc vacuum• Young people from welfare-dependent single-parent families just aren't artful dodgers ready to graduate into serious crime and a moral vacuum.• Nevertheless the discretion is not to be exercised in a moral vacuum.• In both cases the result of improvement is a dehumanized landscape and something like a moral vacuum.• A power vacuum would probably destroy his hopes for a smooth transition of authority.• In the post-Nehru political vacuum, this was simply a recipe for instability.• Pavlov had warned on Aug. 13 of a potential power vacuum, unless the centre retained sufficient economic leverage.• In the power vacuum following the trials, Berlusconi became Prime Minister.• There is no satisfying solution to the moral vacuum that is created when one human being murders another.

Related topics: Cleaning

vacuum2 verb [intransitiveI, transitiveT]

DHCto clean using a vacuum cleaner 用真空吸尘器打扫［清洁］ →5 see picture at 见图 clean2

Examples from the Corpus

vacuum• He vacuums a third time, for a few seconds longer.• I loved getting the housework done during the week and then playing on the weekend, all the vacuuming done.• Meanwhile, his receptionist can not vacuum fat, nor can she type as fast.• His chair having to be replaced after vacuuming in exactly the same position as before.• The inside has been vacuumed recently, too.• I stay in, play Bach on the earphones and vacuum the broadloom.• They sent him along to vacuum the carpets, but he wound up with his very own theatre to practice in.• Have you vacuumed the carpets?

Origin vacuum1

(1500-1600) Latin vacuus; → VACUOUS