Definition

1. Adjective (Tính từ):
   • Very wide, vast, and desolate: Describes an area that is extremely broad, open, and empty, often with a sense of bleakness or lack of life. It emphasizes a great, sometimes overwhelming, expanse.
   • Gaping, yawning (wide open): Describes something that is opened extremely wide, often a mouth or an entrance, to an exaggerated degree.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Cánh đồng hoang hoác không một bóng người. (The field was vast and desolate without a single person in sight.)
  • Cửa hang mở hoang hoác ra phía ngoài. (The cave entrance gaped wide open to the outside.)
  • Nó há miệng hoang hoác khi nghe tin sốc. (He gaped/yawed (with his mouth wide open) upon hearing the shocking news.)

Advanced Usage

• "hoang hoác" as a Reduplicative (Từ láy): This word is a reduplicative form (từ láy) of the root "hoác". Reduplicatives in Vietnamese often intensify the meaning of the root word. Here, "hoang hoác" intensifies "hoác", conveying a stronger sense of extreme wideness, emptiness, or openness.
  • Sau trận bão, khu vườn trở nên hoang hoác. (After the storm, the garden became utterly desolate and bare.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hoác (Tính từ): Wide open, gaping. This is the root word.
  • Cửa mở hoác. (The door is wide open.)
• Hoang vắng (Tính từ): Deserted, lonely, desolate (focuses more on the lack of people).
  • Con đường hoang vắng. (A deserted road.)

Synonyms

• Bao la: Immense, vast (often for sky or sea, less desolate).
• Mênh mông: Boundless, vast (often for natural landscapes).
• Trống trải: Bare, empty, exposed.
• Há hốc: Gaping (specifically for mouth due to surprise).

Antonyms

• Chật hẹp: Narrow, cramped.
• Đông đúc: Crowded, populous.
• Nhỏ bé: Small, tiny.

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Mồm hoác miệng hoang: A colloquial phrase describing someone with their mouth hanging open wide, often in a foolish, surprised, or greedy manner. It uses both "hoác" and "hoang" for emphasis.
  • Nghe nó kể chuyện, tôi cứ mồm hoác miệng hoang ra mà nghe. (Listening to his story, I just listened with my mouth agape.)

1. xem hoác (láy)