# evacuate

Pronunciation: US say "i-VAK-yoo-ayt" /ɪˈvæk.ju.eɪt/; UK

## Verb

1. To cause or help people to leave or withdraw from a place, especially to protect them from danger.
   - Simple: To move people out of a place to keep them safe from danger.
   - _Officials evacuated thousands of residents as the wildfire approached._
   - _Crews worked through the night to evacuate families from the flood zone._
2. To leave or withdraw from a place; to quit or depart from it.
   - Simple: To leave a place, often because it is no longer safe to stay there.
   - _The troops evacuated the city as enemy forces advanced._
   - _Residents were told to evacuate their homes immediately._
3. To empty something out completely, including removing all the air or gas to create a vacuum.
   - Simple: To empty something completely by taking out everything inside.
   - _Technicians evacuate the chamber until almost no gas remains._
   - _The system evacuates air from the sealed container to preserve the sample._
4. To remove, eject, or discharge contents, as from a vessel or from the bladder or bowels.
   - Simple: To push the contents out of the body, such as emptying the bowels or bladder.
   - _The drug stimulates the bowel to evacuate its contents._
   - _After surgery, the patient struggled to evacuate the bladder fully._
5. To render something empty, or to strip it of the contents, qualities, or meaning it once held.
   - Simple: To empty something out completely, taking away everything it once held.
   - _Endless repetition can evacuate even the most powerful word of its meaning._
   - _The scandal evacuated the office of whatever trust remained between colleagues._
6. To make something void, such as a contract or a marriage, so that it no longer has any force.
   - Simple: To cancel something so that it no longer has any legal power.
   - _The appeals court voted to evacuate the lower court's judgment._
   - _The new statute evacuated the older contract entirely._

## Origin

First attested in 1526, borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō ("to empty out, evacuate"), formed with the verb-making suffix -ate.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/evacuate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).