Both Uses of
vacuous
in
Catch-22
- 'You pompous, rotund, neighborly, vacuous, complacent...'†
Chpt 15 *vacuous = lacking intelligent thought
- Now she sat resting in vacuous indolence, watching the card game with dull curiosity as she gathered her recalcitrant energies for the tedious chore of donning the rest of her clothing and going back to work.†
Chpt 26
Definitions:
-
(1)
(vacuous) lacking intelligent thought
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
In addition to usage such as "vacuous comments" that indicate a lack of intelligent thought; vacuous can also indicate a lack of attention as in "a vacuous stare", or an absence of meaning as in "a vacuous life".
More rarely, and especially in older usage, vacuous may refer to physical emptiness -- such as "a vacuous warehouse".