verb
vacate
vay-KAYT
verb
1
To leave a property, room, or position, making it available for someone else.
"Guests must vacate their rooms by 11am."
"She vacated the post after ten years as director."
2
Law: to make a court ruling or judgment void.
"The appeals court vacated the earlier conviction."
How to Use Vacate
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo leave a place or position so it becomes empty/available, or (in law) to cancel a ruling.
Common pairings
vacate the premises
vacate a judgment
vacate the position
Word Forms
vacated past tense, vacates singular
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Guests must _____ their rooms by 11am.
Etymology
From Latin vacare ("to be empty, to be unoccupied"); the legal sense of "annul" came first in English, with "move out of" developing later.