a sense of empty

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "a sense of empty" is not correct in written English.
It should be "a sense of emptiness" to convey the intended meaning. Example: "After the event, I was left with a sense of emptiness that I couldn't shake off."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

News & Media

Science

Formal & Business

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

5 human-written examples

Haunted by a sense of empty distances, the thirty-nine-minute piece generates an astonishing range of emotions.

The New Yorker

In the gaps between the towns and villages it has as strong a sense of Empty Quarter (the desert in the Arabian peninsual) as anywhere in the country.

The Guardian - Travel

The novel keeps producing iterations of itself, in different places and times — England in the nineteen-eighties, Iraq in 2004, America in 2025, post-apocalyptic Ireland in 2043 — but instead of formal capability there is a sense of empty capacity.

The New Yorker

Whatever the poison, it takes over the students' lives and leaves a sense of empty pleasure in place of real stimulation.

Huffington Post

Depersonalisation symptoms are absent only in autoscopic hallucination and can be described as a reduced awareness of own body in negative heautoscopy, as a sense of empty body in inner heautoscopy, as a subjective meaningfulness and enhanced reality of the experience in out of body experience and as a sense of familiarity with the external presence in the feeling of a presence.

Behavioral and Brain Functions

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

53 human-written examples

My first thought on hearing the immeasurably sad news of Seamus Heaney's death was a sensation of a great tree having fallen: that sense of empty space, desolation, uprooting.

The Guardian - Books

I had mixed feelings – relief that the papers were going to be housed "just up the road" at the end of the A40 in the British Library, and, of course, a sense of loss at seeing the empty room left behind.

Independent

So our sense of self is haunted by a sense of lack: I experience the empty hole at the core of my being as the feeling that something is wrong with me, or something is missing in my life.

Huffington Post

A jumble of influences, "Hell Ride" borrows its jump-around-in-time structure and absurdist wordplay from Quentin Tarantino (who apparently doesn't hold a grudge; he's credited as executive producer) and its sense of empty spaces and hovering doom from Sergio Leone.

The New York Times

The place is vast, but oddly, it doesn't give you that sense of empty space and wide horizons you normally get in a big lake.

The Guardian - Books

This model is very good at eliminating vacuums in the sense of empty objects.

SEP

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Consider the context when choosing a synonym. "A sense of desolation" might be more appropriate when describing loneliness, while "a sense of hollowness" could be better for describing a lack of meaning.

Common error

Avoid using "empty" directly after "sense of" as if it were a noun. The correct grammatical form is "emptiness". Instead of saying, "I felt a sense of empty after the project ended", say, "I felt a sense of "emptiness"".

Linguistic Context

The phrase, though grammatically suspect, seems intended to function as a noun phrase, describing a feeling or sensation. Ludwig AI suggests that it is not a correct phrase and should be replaced by "a sense of emptiness".

Expression frequency: Uncommon

Frequent in

News & Media

50%

Science

30%

Formal & Business

20%

Less common in

Wiki

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, while the phrase "a sense of empty" appears in some writing, it's grammatically incorrect. The correct form is "a sense of "emptiness"". As Ludwig AI points out, using ""emptiness"" provides grammatical soundness and more effectively communicates the intended sentiment of lacking substance or emotional fulfillment. Several alternative phrases exist to convey this feeling, such as "a feeling of "void"" or "a sense of "desolation"", which are more suitable for formal writing. Despite its presence in various contexts, prioritizing correct grammar and clear communication is recommended.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

a sense of emptiness

Replaces the adjective "empty" with the noun "emptiness", correcting the grammatical structure.

a feeling of void

Substitutes "sense" with "feeling" and "empty" with "void", offering a slightly different emotional nuance.

a sense of desolation

Replaces "empty" with "desolation", emphasizing a feeling of loneliness and abandonment.

a sense of hollowness

Uses "hollowness" instead of "empty", suggesting a lack of substance or fulfillment.

a sense of vacuity

Replaces "empty" with "vacuity", indicating a lack of meaning or purpose.

a vacant feeling

Changes "sense of" to "feeling" and uses "vacant" as an adjective, offering a more direct description of the emotion.

an empty feeling

Switches to an adjective-noun structure, directly describing the feeling as empty.

a bleak outlook

Shifts the focus to the future, suggesting a pessimistic or hopeless perspective.

a barren state

Describes a condition lacking in positive attributes, often used in a metaphorical sense.

an absence of feeling

Focuses on the lack of emotional response or connection.

FAQs

What's the correct way to say you feel nothing?

Instead of saying you feel "a sense of empty", which is grammatically incorrect, you should say you feel "a sense of "emptiness"", "a feeling of void", or "an "absence of feeling"".

How can I describe the feeling of lacking purpose?

To describe the feeling of lacking purpose, you can use the phrase "a sense of "hollowness"" or "a sense of "vacuity"" instead of the grammatically questionable "a sense of empty".

Which is correct, "a sense of empty" or "a sense of emptiness"?

"A sense of "emptiness"" is the correct and grammatically sound phrase. "A sense of empty" is not considered standard English.

What are some alternatives to "a sense of emptiness" that convey a similar meaning?

Alternatives include "a "feeling of void"", "a sense of "desolation"", and "a "bleak outlook"", each offering a slightly different nuance of the original idea.