empty material

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "empty material" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe content that lacks substance or meaningful information. Example: "The report was filled with empty material that did not contribute to the overall analysis."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

2 human-written examples

Facility layout designs obtained using the flow distance metric exclusively have been criticized because they completely ignore empty material transfer, which generally increases work-in-process and equipment costs.

Computers & Industrial Engineering

Brenneman's Catherine traverses the greatest emotional territory, grappling with an existential lack of fulfillment as she wallows in her empty material and social success.

Huffington Post

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

58 human-written examples

She was terrified of a piece of empty brown material.

The New Yorker

"Our home may have been empty of material things," she once told a family friend, "but my life with Mazhar was full in every way that mattered".

Independent

These forms life, soul, and vital masculine substance are later freed again, a liberation that completely empties the material world.

Britannica

Mr. Maher is not the first to use Buffalo's abundant stock of empty houses as material for civic commentary.

The New York Times

Nevertheless, the empty travel of material handling equipment, layout flexibility and area utilisation have a significant contribution towards the layout effectiveness.

Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

Few judges have spoken out against their colleagues for excusing crime on the grounds of poverty or some other social disadvantage, or for sentencing empty alternatives to material punishments.

University of California, Berkeley

The CG presented in this paper extends other related works by incorporating numerous aspects of layout that include empty travel of material handling equipment, information flow, personnel flow and equipment flow.

Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

However, this is clearly false, since frictionless planes and universes empty of all material bodies cannot be produced in any laboratory.

SEP

Cells carrying either of the genomic clones showed tolerance to a high concentration of canavanine compared with cells carrying the empty vector (supplementary material Fig. S1A).

Biology Open

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When describing facility layouts, use "empty material transfer" to highlight inefficiencies in material handling processes, as this term is recognized in industrial engineering.

Common error

Avoid using "empty material" metaphorically when describing emotions or experiences. Instead, opt for more evocative language like "hollow," "meaningless," or "devoid of substance" to convey the intended sentiment more effectively.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "empty material" functions primarily as a descriptive term. It combines an adjective ("empty") with a noun ("material") to specify a substance or object that lacks contents or inherent value. This is consistent with Ludwig AI's assessment of the phrase as correct and usable.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

Science

50%

News & Media

50%

Encyclopedias

0%

Less common in

Formal & Business

0%

Wiki

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, the phrase "empty material" is a grammatically correct but infrequent expression used to describe something lacking substance or contents. As Ludwig AI confirms, it is usable in written English. It finds application in diverse fields like facility management and even discussions about emotional states. While the phrase can be applied across various contexts, the choice of alternatives, like "hollow matter" or "devoid of content", offers a more evocative choice in certain settings. Understanding its nuances can aid in more precise and impactful writing.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

vacant substance

Replaces "empty" with "vacant" to emphasize the lack of content within the material.

hollow matter

Substitutes "empty" with "hollow", highlighting the internal void of the matter.

devoid of content

Emphasizes the absence of content within something, rather than focusing on the material itself.

lacking substance

Focuses on the deficiency of meaningful components or density in the material.

insubstantial stuff

Indicates that the material is not strong or real.

barren medium

Implies that the material has no value and doesn't produce any results or benefits.

unfilled space

Changes the focus from the material to the space it could occupy.

vacated elements

Suggests that something previously occupied is now empty.

unoccupied component

Highlights the lack of presence of something to complete it.

lifeless resources

Implies that something had properties before and became useless.

FAQs

How can "empty material" be used in a sentence?

You can use "empty material" to describe physical objects lacking content, as in "The factory layout resulted in significant "empty material transfer"" or to describe emotional states, as in "She felt her social success was just "empty material"".

What's a good substitute for the phrase "empty material"?

Depending on the context, you could use phrases like "vacant substance", "hollow matter", or "devoid of content".

Is it correct to use "empty material" to describe abstract concepts like feelings?

While grammatically correct, using "empty material" for abstract concepts might not always be the most impactful choice. Consider using more nuanced alternatives like "hollow feeling" or "devoid of meaning" to convey emotional emptiness.

How does "empty material" differ from "unused material"?

"Unused material" implies that the material exists but is not currently being utilized. "Empty material", on the other hand, suggests that the material lacks substance or content inherently.