1640s, "empty" (implied in vacuousness), from Latin vacuus "empty, void, free" (from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out"). Figurative sense of "empty of ideas, without intelligent expression" is from 1848. Related: Vacuously.
a vacuous mind
vacuous comments
a vacuous space
vaccine
vacillate
vacillation
vacuity
vacuole
vacuous
vacuum
vade
vade-mecum
vae victis
vagabond