vacantly

Wanless, answered enquiries as to Ingram's behaviour under what Mrs. Percival otiosely called "his bereavement," echoed speculations at to his whereabouts -- played, in short, vacantly an empty part, and kept her mother upon tenterhooks.

Rest Harrow A Comedy of Resolution Maurice Hewlett 1892

At this point the imagery begins to repeat itself in different iterations, as it will for the rest of the novel: The man is at the station where the woman is now looking at him "vacantly"; the dog appears again, blocking his path; he walks along the street, where "a cyclist is trying to pedal along," the fish in his saddle bag now joined by a loaf of bread on top of it.

Experimental Fiction 2010

Now that they were together for the first time in a distinctly social fashion, he found himself vacantly, meaninglessly silent, content to walk beside this charming, summery presence, brushed by its delicate draperies, and inhaling its freshness.

Sally Dows Bret Harte 1869

I would catch him in his striped pajamas, staring vacantly at the wall, his thinning hair greasy from sleep.

Double or Nothing Marcie Beyatte 2012

Wrapped in their torn blankets, they would sit or lie on the ground, staring vacantly into space, unaware of who or where they were, strangers to their surroundings.

r_urell: The Perils of Indifference r_urell 2010

He stopped at the corner and looked about him vacantly.

Chapter 44 2010

Then there's Dad handing his procrastinator a book on successful college essays and watching the boy vacantly turn it over in his hands.

'Crazy U,' by Andrew Ferguson, about his family's college admissions experience 2011

Maggie stared vacantly, mouth gaping, like the tiny circles Gina used to draw above the i's in her name.

None of the Above Sally Houtman 2011

Then there's Dad handing his procrastinator a book on successful college essays and watching the boy vacantly turn it over in his hands.

'Crazy U,' by Andrew Ferguson, about his family's college admissions experience 2011

Once in a while, later in the evening, when alcohol seems to have worked some reanimation charm, some of the zombies will start to emulate human beings, leaving only the most inanimate standing vacantly in front of the band.

Modern Bands and Zombies « Colleen Anderson 2010