vacuüm

From Dutch vacuüm, from Latin vacuum, the substantive neuter of the adjective vacuus (“empty”); spelt with a diæresis added to specify the trisyllabic pronunciation [ˈvæ.kjuː.əm] (as opposed to the disyllabic * [ˈvæ.kjuːm]).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvækjuːəm/

vacuüm (plural vacua or vacuä)

1. (rare, chiefly non-native) Alternative spelling of vacuum.
   • 1996, T. A. M. Schoenmakers, Het Amerikaanse Neoconservatisme, 1968–1988, page 14:

     Franklin Roosevelt was showing that democracy was capable of taking care of its own; the New Deal was filling the vacuüm of faith which we had inherited from the cynicism and complacency of the twenties, and from the breadlines of the early thirtees.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vacuüm.

From Latin vacuum, the substantivized neuter of the adjective vacuus (“empty”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaː.ky.ʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: va‧cu‧um

vacuüm n (plural vacuüms or vacua, diminutive vacuümpje n)

1. a vacuum
2. (figuratively) emptiness, meaninglessness

vacuüm (not comparable)

1. in or constituting a vacuum
2. (figuratively) empty, meaningless
   • 2007, Dimitri Verhulst, De helaasheid der dingen, Uitgeverij Contact, Amsterdam/Antwerpen, →ISBN, page 192:

     Er werden handen geschud en vacuüm getrokken zinnen gewisseld, en de vrienden van het volk verlieten het bejaardentehuis, op naar hun volgende opdracht, de cameraregistratie van een volksdans misschien.

     Hands were shaken and phrases with empty meaning were exchanged, and the people’s friends left the rest home, on to their next mission, maybe the photographic documentation of a folk dance.

• → Indonesian: vakum