vacancy

English

Etymology

From Late Latin vacantia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈveɪkənsi/

• Audio (US):

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  • Audio (Southern England):

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Noun

vacancy (countable and uncountable, plural vacancies)

1. An unoccupied position or job.
   • 1965, Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution:

     Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

2. An available room in a hotel; guest house, etc.
3. Empty space.
   • 1993, James Michie, trans. Ovid, The Art of Love, Book II:

     Sky was set above earth, land ringed with sea, / Chaos retired to its own vacancy [...].

4. A blank mind, unoccupied with thought.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 2:

     ...—who has not looked back to the past with that passion of hopelessness, which deems that life can never more be what it has been,—with a consciousness that the dearer emotions are exhausted, while in their place have arisen but vacancy and weariness?

5. Lack of intelligence or understanding.
6. (physics) A defect in a crystal caused by the absence of an atom in a lattice

Related terms

• vacant (adjective)
• vacate (verb)

Translations

unoccupied position

• Arabic: شَاغِر (šāḡir), وَظِيْفَة شَاغِرَة f (waẓiyfa(t) šāḡira), شَاغِر وَظِيْفِيّ m (šāḡir waẓiyfiyy)
• Bulgarian: свободно място n (svobodno mjasto)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 空缺 (zh) (kōngquē), 空職／空职 (kōngzhí), 空額／空额 (zh) (kòng'é)

• Czech: volné místo n
• Dutch: vacature (nl) f
• Finnish: vakanssi (fi), avoin virka
• French: ^{(please verify)} vacance (fr) f
• Georgian: ვაკანსია (ka) (vaḳansia)
• German: Vakanz (de) f, freie Stelle f
• Italian: posto vacante, posizione vacante
• Japanese: 欠員 (ja) (けついん, ketsuin)
• Norman: vacanche f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ledig stilling m

• Polish: wakat (pl) m
• Portuguese: vaga (pt) f
• Russian: вака́нсия (ru) f (vakánsija)
• Ukrainian: вака́нсія (uk) f (vakánsija)
• Zulu: isikhala class 7/8

available room

• Arabic: غُرْفَة شَاغِرَة m (ḡurfa(t) šāḡira)
• Bulgarian: свободна стая f (svobodna staja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 空位 (zh) (kòngwèi, kōngwèi)

• Finnish: vapaa huone
• French: chambre libre f
• Georgian: თავისუფალი ნომერი (tavisupali nomeri)
• German: freies Zimmer n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ledig rom n

• Portuguese: vaga (pt) f
• Russian: свобо́дный но́мер m (svobódnyj nómer)
• Swedish: ledig plats c

empty space

• Arabic: حَيِّز m (ḥayyiz)
• Bulgarian: празнина (bg) f (praznina)
• Finnish: vapaa paikka
• Georgian: სიცარიელე (sicariele), ცარიელი სივრცე (carieli sivrce)
• German: freier Platz m
• Occitan: espaci vuèg m, espaci (oc)
• Russian: свобо́дное ме́сто n (svobódnoje mésto)

A defect in a crystal

• Bulgarian: ваканция (bg) f (vakancija)
• German: Leerstelle (de) f