vacuum

Definitions

From Latin vacuus (empty) — the purest "empty" in the family, a space emptied even of air. The vacuum cleaner is named for how it works: it creates an empty, low-pressure space that pulls dirt in. The figurative "power vacuum" reuses the same idea — remove authority and something rushes to fill the empty space.

Why It Means This

The leap from physics to everyday speech runs through one image: a vacuum is a gap that nature "abhors" and tries to fill. So when we say a leader works in a vacuum, or a power vacuum opens up, we mean there's an empty space where something should be — and the pressure of that emptiness pulls in whatever is nearby.

Common Collocations

• 1.power vacuum权力真空
• 2.vacuum cleaner吸尘器
• 3.in a vacuum孤立地
• 4.create a vacuum形成真空

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Sound cannot travel through a vacuum.

• 2.

  The dictator's death left a dangerous power vacuum.

• 3.

  Could you vacuum the living room before the guests arrive?

• 4.

  No company operates in a vacuum; the market always reacts.