# vacuum

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈvæ.kjuːm/ · frequency rank #6,197

## Definitions
1. A region of space that contains no matter.
2. The condition of rarefaction, or reduction of pressure below that of the atmosphere, in a vessel, such as the condenser of a steam engine, which is nearly exhausted of air or steam, etc.
3. Ellipsis of vacuum cleaner.
4. A spacetime having tensors of zero magnitude.
5. A ground state of a quantum field or of local spacetime, or more abstractly the lowest-energy state of a system.
6. A ground state of a quantum field or of local spacetime, or more abstractly the lowest-energy state of a system.
7. An emptiness in life created by a loss of a person who was close, or of an occupation.
8. An exercise in which one draws their abdomen towards the spine.

## Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin vacuum (“vacuum”), a subsense of Classical Latin vacuum (“empty space”), a substantivised form of vacuus (“empty”); related to vacāre (“to be empty”).
The exercise sense comes from analogy to the sucking action of a vacuum cleaner.

## Easily confused with
- **Valium** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vacuum-vs-valium)

## Common misspellings (8)
`avcuum`, `vaccuum`, `vacum`, `vacumu`, `vacuumm`, `vaucum`, `vcauum`, `vvacuum`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/vacuum