evacuate
verb
Simple meaning
To make empty.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihvakyuhaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪˈvækjəeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from.
To cause (or help) to leave or withdraw from.
To make empty; to empty out; to remove the contents of, including to create a vacuum.
figurative
To make empty; to deprive.
To remove; to eject; to void; to discharge, as the contents of a vessel, or of the bladder or the bowels (to stool).
Empty completely
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make empty; to empty out; to remove the contents of, including to create a vacuum.
Used this way, evacuate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use evacuate
- “After the earthquake, residents were evacuated.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to leave or withdraw from
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.