evacuate
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to move people away from a dangerous place to a safer one.
to remove people from a place of danger to a safe location. Transitive in this sense, taking the people or the location as the object.
Simple“The police had to evacuate the entire street after they found an old bomb.”
In context“Emergency services worked through the night to evacuate residents from the coastal villages before the storm surge reached its peak.”
PitfallThe police evacuated the people from the building. The police evacuated the building.While you can evacuate people, it is more common in formal reports to evacuate the place itself.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to leave a place because it is no longer safe to stay there.
to withdraw from or quit a place, especially in response to a threat or order. Often used intransitively.
Simple“When the fire alarm rang, everyone evacuated the office in a calm way.”
In context“Thousands were forced to evacuate as the wildfire spread rapidly through the dry timber toward the edge of the town.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
to remove all the air or liquid from a container.
to create a vacuum or remove the contents of a vessel or container. Frequently used in engineering and physics contexts.
Simple“The technician used a pump to evacuate the air from the glass tube.”
In context“Before the experiment could begin, the chamber had to be fully evacuated to ensure no atmospheric gases interfered with the laser.”
- 04 C2 Proficiency
to pass waste from the body.
to discharge waste matter from the body, particularly from the bowels. Highly formal or clinical in register.
Simple“The patient was unable to evacuate his bowels without medical help.”
In context“Post-operative monitoring included ensuring the patient could evacuate their bladder independently before being cleared for discharge.”
Usage evacuate their homes · evacuate the settlers
“The Times of Israel reported that Israeli forces and police attempted to “evacuate the settlers” early on Thursday after a previous failed effort the day before.”
“Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate across Germany, France, Croatia and Greece as wildfires continue to rage across parts of western and southeastern Europe.”
First attested in 1526; borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō (“to empty out, evacuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.