vacate

Pronunciation: /veɪˈkeɪt/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb leave (a job, post, or position) voluntarily
  2. verb leave behind empty; move out of
  3. verb cancel officially

Etymology

Originally used in the legal sense "to annul", a denominal from Early Modern English vacat (“legal annulment”), a development from Middle English vacat (“absence or cancellation noted in a register”), from Latin vacat, third-person singular present active indicative of vacō (“to be idle; to be unoccupied”, literally “to be empty”). The primary modern sense "to move out" likely developed under the influence of older borrowing vacant (“unoccupied”), in combination with the Early Modern use of vacate to refer to the termination of official appointments to office, which would leave those position vacant.

In classic literature

Synonyms

resign, renounce, give up

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
leave office
Narrower (hyponyms)
abdicate

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