Meaning & use
empty shell
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Meanings
nouncountable
The hard outer covering of a creature, egg or nut after whatever was inside has gone.
Grammar: Countable: an empty shell, two empty shells.
Patterns
- an empty shell on something
We found an empty shell on the beach and held it to our ears.
The bird left an empty shell in the nest.
She collected every empty shell she could find after the picnic.
nounsingularfigurative
Something that has kept its outer form but lost the life, meaning or value it once had.
Grammar: Used figuratively and normally with an or the: the company was an empty shell.
Patterns
- become an empty shell
- be just an empty shell of something
After the factory closed, the town felt like an empty shell.
He was an empty shell of the confident man he used to be.
The firm was only an empty shell with no staff, money or customers.
Word forms
| plural | empty shells |
|---|
Common combinations
- a mere empty shell
- The old theatre was a mere empty shell after the fire.
- leave an empty shell
- The loss left him an empty shell.
- empty shell company
- Police found it was an empty shell company with no real business.
- hollow, empty shell
- The building stood as a hollow, empty shell.
- just an empty shell
- Without the people, the house was just an empty shell.
Synonyms and how they differ
- husk
- Husk is more common for dry plant coverings and, figuratively, stresses a dried-out, lifeless person.
- hollow
- Hollow works as an adjective for emptiness, while empty shell is a noun phrase that also suggests an outer form remains.
- facade
- Facade stresses a deceptive outer appearance covering something else, not simply that nothing is inside.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: empty shell or shell game?
empty shell vs shell game
A shell game is a trick or swindle, not a description of something hollow.
Practice
After the team moved out, the stadium felt like an ___, silent and lifeless.
Choose one answer.
A place that keeps its outer form but has lost its life is an empty shell. A full house is the opposite, and the others do not suggest hollowness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “empty shell”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.