Evacuate Meaning
/ɪˈvæk.ju.eɪt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from.
verbTo cause (or help) to leave or withdraw from.
Sentence Examples
The threatening floods made it necessary to evacuate the town.
We have less than five minutes to evacuate the whole building.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The fire alarm forced everyone to ____ the building immediately and calmly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Authorities had to ____ the entire stadium after a suspicious package was found near the entrance.
Word Origin & History
First attested in 1526; borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō (“to empty out, evacuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Norwegians were forced to evacuate the country."
— 1757, Edmund Burke, The Abridgement of the History of England:
"Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese."
— 1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:
"Evacuate the Scriptures of their most important doctrines."
— 1825, James Marsh, Preliminary Essay to Aids to Reflection:
"In the living state, the body is observed to receive aliment; to assimilate a part; to evacuate what is redundant or useless; [...]"
— 1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization, Edinburgh; London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 1:
"it would not evacuate a marriage after cohabitation and actual consummation"
— 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The fire alarm forced everyone to ____ the building immediately and calmly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Authorities had to ____ the entire stadium after a suspicious package was found near the entrance.