1. empty chair - Noun
2. empty chair - Verb
(psychotherapy) A chair which is used to personify the client's object of conflict
A podium or chair left empty to highlight the absence of someone from a debate.
A position held by someone who is absent or otherwise ineffectual.
empty chair (third-person singular simple present empty chairs, present participle empty chairing, simple past and past participle empty chaired)
(transitive, debating) To draw attention to (a person who is absent from a debate) by providing an empty podium or chair which they would have occupied.
Originality is going back to the place where you were what you were-and finding an empty chair. Would you gladly sit on it? No, thank you. It is empty for a reason. That's where my ass was. Not where my head is now. Giannina Braschi
I was married to a law student, and I used to attend classes with him at Georgetown University Law Center. Being of dramatic bent, I was drawn mainly to Criminal law and Evidence classes. A just-beginning writer, I would find an empty chair and listen, mesmerized, to the lectures. Luanne Rice