in vacuo

English

Etymology

FromLatininvacuō(“in vacuum”).

Adverb

in vacuo

1. In a partial or fullvacuum.

   The distillation is performedin vacuoto avoid decomposition of the compounds under study.

2. (figurative)Out of context.
   • 1980,George Lakoff,Mark Johnson,chapter 24, inMetaphors We Live By:

     But we don't understand sentences like thisin vacuo.We understand them relative to certain larger categories of experience[…]

Further reading

• “in vacuo”,inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.