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Glite Dictionary
to feel empty inside

to feel empty inside

2 7.5
To have a deep sadness and no meaning inside you
  • phrasal verb
: sentirse vacío por dentro
  • He realized he felt empty inside after the excitement of the party wore off, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Examples

  • After going through a tough breakup, she often felt empty inside and struggled to find joy in her daily activities.

  • Now, I feel empty inside and I can't stand it.

    Water in a Broken Glass (2018)

  • You do funny things when you feel empty inside.

    September (1987)

  • Instead, all I could do was watch and feel empty inside because there was nothing I could do to help her.

    The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)

  • Jennifer , I feel empty inside .

    The Unseen (1980)

  • That makes me feel empty inside Pan throw from thundercats.

  • I feel empty inside.

    Violet (2020)

  • I feel empty inside.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • They felt empty inside.

    Minions (2015)

  • Many young adults feel empty inside despite achieving success, questioning the meaning of their accomplishments.

Synonyms

to feel down
vsto feel empty inside
23 3.0

Be sad or unhappy

is a deep lasting lack of purpose and fulfillment rather than mild sadness
feeling dead inside
vsto feel empty inside
  • Informal
1 9.9

Being numb and empty inside after loss or long sadness

is a deep lack of purpose or fulfillment rather than numbness

Antonyms

fulfilled
25 3.2

Feeling happy and satisfied because goals or needs are met

How Empty

numb
75 4.1
to feel empty inside
2 7.5
bereft
  • Literature
17 7.5
to feel off
  • Informal
12 6.3

Surface Forms

feel empty inside infinitive
felt empty inside past
felt empty inside past participle
feeling empty inside present participle
feels empty inside third person singular

Morphology

feel + empty + inside

The meaning 'to experience emotional emptiness' is directly and compositionally derived from 'feel' (experience) + 'empty' (lacking) + 'inside' (inwardly), so a learner who knows those words can infer an internal emotional state. This internal-emotion construction is cross-linguistically common and follows transparent semantic composition, making it accessible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The phrase feel empty inside creates a simple picture: someone with an empty space inside them, like a room or box with nothing in it. That's why it means 'to feel very sad or without purpose'.