"empty nest" meaning in English

See empty nest in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: empty nests [plural]
Etymology: From birds whose offspring leave the nest when they reach maturity. Head templates: {{en-noun}} empty nest (plural empty nests)
  1. A home or a family where the children have grown up and moved away. Translations (home or family where the children have moved away): 空巢 (kōngcháo) (Chinese Mandarin), tyhjä pesä (Finnish), leeres Nest [neuter] (German), puste gniazdo [neuter] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-empty_nest-en-noun-bnAnrBaB Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 86 14 Disambiguation of 'home or family where the children have moved away': 97 3
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see empty, nest. Derived forms: empty nester Related terms: leave the nest
    Sense id: en-empty_nest-en-noun-a5fXP9An

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for empty nest meaning in English (2.3kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From birds whose offspring leave the nest when they reach maturity.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "empty nests",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "empty nest (plural empty nests)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Celia Dodd, The Empty Nest: Your Changing Family, Your New Direction, Hachette UK",
          "text": "One woman with a full-on and demanding career e-mailed me to say ‘This empty nest thing is no joke. I didn't realise it would hit me so hard. It is day three of my daughter being gone and I have to resist the urge to weep every time I go past her room.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Lisa O. Engelhardt, Empty Nest Therapy, Open Road Media",
          "text": "Yet an “empty nest” can cause confusing emotions for parents. While this juncture can bring on sadness and loneliness, it can also signal newfound freedom and fulfillment.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A home or a family where the children have grown up and moved away."
      ],
      "id": "en-empty_nest-en-noun-bnAnrBaB",
      "links": [
        [
          "home",
          "home"
        ],
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "kōngcháo",
          "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
          "word": "空巢"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
          "word": "tyhjä pesä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "leeres Nest"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "puste gniazdo"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "empty nester"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see empty, nest."
      ],
      "id": "en-empty_nest-en-noun-a5fXP9An",
      "links": [
        [
          "empty",
          "empty#English"
        ],
        [
          "nest",
          "nest#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "leave the nest"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "empty nest"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "empty nester"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From birds whose offspring leave the nest when they reach maturity.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "empty nests",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "empty nest (plural empty nests)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "leave the nest"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Celia Dodd, The Empty Nest: Your Changing Family, Your New Direction, Hachette UK",
          "text": "One woman with a full-on and demanding career e-mailed me to say ‘This empty nest thing is no joke. I didn't realise it would hit me so hard. It is day three of my daughter being gone and I have to resist the urge to weep every time I go past her room.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Lisa O. Engelhardt, Empty Nest Therapy, Open Road Media",
          "text": "Yet an “empty nest” can cause confusing emotions for parents. While this juncture can bring on sadness and loneliness, it can also signal newfound freedom and fulfillment.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A home or a family where the children have grown up and moved away."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "home",
          "home"
        ],
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see empty, nest."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "empty",
          "empty#English"
        ],
        [
          "nest",
          "nest#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "kōngcháo",
      "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
      "word": "空巢"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
      "word": "tyhjä pesä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "leeres Nest"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "home or family where the children have moved away",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "puste gniazdo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "empty nest"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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