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Blank vs Empty - What's the difference?

blank | empty |

As adjectives the difference between blank and empty

is that blank is white or pale; without colour while empty is devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

As nouns the difference between blank and empty

is that blank is a cartridge that is designed to simulate the noise and smoke of real gunfire without actually firing a projectile while empty is a container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.

As verbs the difference between blank and empty

is that blank is to make void; to erase while empty is to make empty; to void; to remove the contents of.

blank

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • (archaic) White or pale; without colour.
  • * Milton
    • To the blank moon / Her office they prescribed.
  • Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
    • , date=December 27 , author=Mike Henson , title=Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Referee Michael Oliver failed to detect a foul in a crowded box and the Canaries escaped down the tunnel with the scoreline still blank .}}
  • (figurative) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
    • a blank''' desert; a '''blank''' wall; '''blank unconsciousness
  • Absolute; downright; unmixed; sheer.
    • blank terror
  • Without expression.
    • Failing to understand the question, he gave me a blank stare.
  • Utterly confounded or discomfited.
  • * Milton
    • Adam astonied stood, and blank .
  • Empty; void; without result; fruitless.
    • a blank day
  • Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration. (rfex)

    • Descendants

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A cartridge that is designed to simulate the noise and smoke of real gunfire without actually firing a projectile.
  • An empty space; a void, as on a paper, or in one's memory.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • I cannot write a paper full, I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you.
  • * Hallam
    • From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation.
  • * George Eliot
    • I was ill. I can't tell how long — it was a blank .
  • A space to be filled in on a form or template.
  • A paper without marks or characters, or with space left for writing; a ballot, form, contract, etc. that has not yet been filled in.
  • * Palfrey
    • The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank .
  • A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.
  • * Dryden
    • In Fortune's lottery lies / A heap of blanks , like this, for one small prize.
  • (archaic) A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence.
    • (Nares)
  • (engineering) A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.
  • (dominoes) A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the double blank"; the six blank." In blank, with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank.
  • The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space-bar on a keyboard.
  • The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye.
  • Aim; shot; range.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I have stood within the blank of his displeasure / For my free speech.
  • (chemistry) A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it.

    • Synonyms

    * (sense, bullet that doesn't harm) blank cartridge, blank bullet

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make void; to erase.
    • I blanked out my previous entry.
  • (slang) To ignore.
    • She blanked me for no reason.
  • To prevent from scoring, as in a sporting event.
    • The team was blanked .
  • To become blank.

    • Usage notes

    * Almost any sense of this can occur with (out). See (blank out).

    Derived terms

    * blank canvas * blank check * blank end * blankly * blankness * blank out * blank verse ----

    empty

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
    • an empty''' purse; an '''empty''' jug; an '''empty stomach
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=October 23 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=United's stature is such that one result must not bring the immediate announcement of a shift in the balance of power in Manchester - but the swathes of empty seats around Old Trafford and the wave of attacks pouring towards David de Gea's goal in the second half emphasised that City quite simply have greater firepower and talent in their squad at present.}}
  • (computing, programming) Containing no elements (as of a string or array), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
  • (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of .
  • * Milton
    • that fair female troop empty of all good
  • * Shakespeare
    • I shall find you empty of that fault.
  • Having nothing to carry; unburdened.
  • * Shakespeare
    • an empty messenger
  • * Bible, Exodus iii. 21
    • When ye go ye shall not go empty .
  • Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
    • empty words, or threats
  • * Cibber
    • Words are but empty thanks.
  • Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
    • empty pleasures
  • * Alexander Pope
    • pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise
  • Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
    • empty dreams
  • (obsolete) Producing nothing; unfruitful; said of a plant or tree.
    • an empty vine
  • * Bible, Genesis xli. 27
    • seven empty ears blasted with the east wind
  • Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
    • empty''' brains; an '''empty coxcomb
  • * Shakespeare
    • that in civility thou seem'st so empty

    Synonyms

    * (devoid of content) unoccupied, clear, , toom, clean

    Antonyms

    * full

    Derived terms

    * empty-handed * emptiness * empty product * empty set * empty sum

    Verb

  • (ergative) To make empty; to void; to remove the contents of.
    • to empty a well or a cistern
    The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.
  • * Bible, Eccl. xi. 3
    • The clouds empty themselves upon the earth.

    Antonyms

    * fill

    Derived terms

    * empty the tank

    Noun

    (empties)
  • A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.
    • Put the empties out to be recycled.

    Derived terms

    * emptiness * run on empty

    External links

    * * English refractory feminine rhymes 1000 English basic words