[Vocabulary] hollow and empty

[dilodi83]

Could you explain me how to use the adjectives empty and hollow? It's really hard to me to understand their meaning because in my language they mean the same so I cannot catch the difference between them.
Maybe some examples would be useful. ;-)

 

[JohnParis]

Hollow is most commonly used as an adjective.
Hollow means having a hole or empty space inside. Example: Each fiber has a hollow core.
Hollow can also mean having a depression in the surface of a thing; concave. Example: The old man had hollow cheeks.
Hollow is also a verb and a noun. Check your dictionary.

Empty means containing nothing; not filled or occupied. Example: He took his empty coffee cup back to the counter. The room was empty of furniture.

 

[taita87]

I am italian too, and I probably understand what you mean.

Oxford dictionary:
Hollow
1 having a hole or empty space inside : each fiber has a hollow core.
• (of a thing) having a depression in its surface; concave : hollow cheeks.

From my point of view, I think that hollow is more about the shape of the object you are referring to. You should use empty instead to describe the content of a certain object.

For example, hydraulic tubes are hollow (it means that they are "cavitary" cylinders, ie a solid object with a cavity inside) and they could be empty (referred to the content of the "cavity")

Hope to be helpful

 

[dilodi83]

Thanks so much

 

[Barb_D]

hollow is more about the shape of the object you are referring to. You should use empty instead to describe the content of a certain object.

Good distinction! :up:

 

[birdeen's call]

I am italian too, and I probably understand what you mean.

Oxford dictionary:
Hollow
1 having a hole or empty space inside : each fiber has a hollow core.
• (of a thing) having a depression in its surface; concave : hollow cheeks.

From my point of view, I think that hollow is more about the shape of the object you are referring to. You should use empty instead to describe the content of a certain object.

For example, hydraulic tubes are hollow (it means that they are "cavitary" cylinders, ie a solid object with a cavity inside) and they could be empty (referred to the content of the "cavity")

Hope to be helpful

I think it's a very good explanation.

It's interesting that, while a tube and a torus are homeomorphic (unless we want to disregard the thickness of the tube's walls, it is just a stretched-out torus), we consider the tube to be hollow and not the torus. Both objects have a hole in the middle: if we put them both on the ground in such a way that the empty spaces can be seen from above, then horizontal cross-sections are of exactly the same kind for both -- they're rings. However, for a torus to be hollow, this is not enough for some reason. It would need to have "hollow" vertical cross-sections to be that.

I think it's because we don't really think of the hole in the middle of the torus to be inside it.