evacuate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move people away from a dangerous place to somewhere safe.

   After the earthquake, thousands of residents were evacuated.

2. 2
   verb

   To leave a place because it is dangerous.

   The soldiers evacuated the fortress before the enemy arrived.

3. 3
   verb

   To empty something completely.

   The scientist evacuated the chamber before filling it with gas.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Evacuate comes from Latin evacuare, “to empty,” formed from e-, “out,” and vacuus, “empty.” It began as a medical term for expelling unwanted bodily substances, acquired the sense “remove inhabitants” in the mid-17th century, and came to mean moving people to safety during the Second World War.

First attested in 1526; borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō (“to empty out, evacuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary