Library / English Dictionary

VACUUM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: vacua   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An electrical home appliance that cleans by suction

Synonyms:

vacuum; vacuum cleaner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("vacuum" is a kind of...):

home appliance; household appliance (an appliance that does a particular job in the home)

Meronyms (parts of "vacuum"):

dust bag; vacuum bag (a bag into which dirt is sucked by a vacuum cleaner)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vacuum"):

Hoover (a kind of vacuum cleaner)

Derivation:

vacuum (clean with a vacuum cleaner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A region that is devoid of matter

Synonyms:

vacuity; vacuum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("vacuum" is a kind of...):

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An empty area or space

Example:

without their support he'll be ruling in a vacuum

Synonyms:

emptiness; vacancy; vacuum; void

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("vacuum" is a kind of...):

space (an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things))

Sense 4

Meaning:

The absence of matter

Synonyms:

vacuity; vacuum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("vacuum" is a kind of...):

emptiness (the state of containing nothing)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Clean with a vacuum cleaner

Example:

vacuum the carpets

Synonyms:

hoover; vacuum; vacuum-clean

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "vacuum" is one way to...):

clean; make clean (make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted substances from)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

vacuum (an electrical home appliance that cleans by suction)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The profile of adsorption and desorption of the gas at various vacuum pressures can be used to determine the surface area of the sample.

(Gas Sorption, NCI Thesaurus)

An electrode placed between the cathode and anode of a vacuum tube to control the flow of electrons through the tube.

(Grid, NCI Thesaurus)

A meter is defined as the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second and is equal to 1.093 61 yards.

(Meter, NCI Thesaurus)

The specimen is frozen and then dehydrated at low temperature in a high vacuum.

(Freeze-Drying, NCI Thesaurus)

It also credited Leonov with making the spacewalk possible, noting on Twitter "his venture into the vacuum of space began the history of extravehicular activity".

(Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov dies at age 85, Wikinews)

Calcium sulfate is used in electroplating, vacuum tubes, fluorescent screens, analytical chemistry, as a fungicide and as a chemical intermediate to produce cadmium containing pigments and stabilizers.

(Cadmium Sulfate, NCI Thesaurus)

A constant of proportionality that exists between electric displacement and electric field intensity in a vacuum.

(Electric Permittivity of Vacuum, NCI Thesaurus)

A question about moderate activities such as moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf.

(Moderate Activities Such As Moving a Table, Pushing a Vacuum Cleaner, Bowling, or Playing Golf, NCI Thesaurus)

Cadmium chloride is used in electroplating, printing, photocopying, dyeing, mirrors, vacuum tubes, lubricants, analytical chemistry and as a chemical intermediate to produce cadmium containing pigments and stabilizers.

(Cadmium Chloride, NCI Thesaurus)

A unit of energy defined as the kinetic energy acquired by an electron in passing through a potential difference of one volt in a vacuum.

(Electronvolt, NCI Thesaurus)