"Less empty" and similar "double negatives"


In English, we can apply a negative adverb to a negative adjective to end up
with a positive-pointing adjectival phrase - "less empty," "not small", "less
mistaken", and so on. How would I say this in Japanese? Ah, in context I'm
trying to maintain a parallel to an existing quote, so I definitely would like
to say something of the form 「～[空]{から}の」




> 「（ ）[空]{から}の」

Correct me if I am wrong, but your assumption here seems to be that there must
be a word to fill in that blank so that the whole phrase would mean " _ **less
empty**_ ".

_**If so, the answer is that there is no such word in Japanese**_.

The form we use for " _ **less + adjective with negative meaning**_ " would
be:

> 「より + Adjective w/ Negative Meaning _**in its negative form**_ 」 or
>
> 「より + _**Antonym**_ of Adjective w/ Negative Meaning」

These would be 「より空で（は）ない」 and 「よりたくさん[入]{はい}っている」, respectively. I must also
add that with 「空の」, the latter expression would sound considerably more
natural than the former. The former form would sound a little wordy to the
majority of the native speakers.

Other examples:

"less mistaken" = 「より[間違]{まちが}っていない」 and 「より[正]{ただ}しい」

"less ugly" = 「より[醜]{みにく}くない」 and 「よりきれいな」

Again, the latter form would be the native speaker's choice in both cases.




> 「（ ）[空]{から}の」

Correct me if I am wrong, but your assumption here seems to be that there must
be a word to fill in that blank so that the whole phrase would mean " _ **less
empty**_ ".

_**If so, the answer is that there is no such word in Japanese**_.

The form we use for " _ **less + adjective with negative meaning**_ " would
be:

> 「より + Adjective w/ Negative Meaning _**in its negative form**_ 」 or
>
> 「より + _**Antonym**_ of Adjective w/ Negative Meaning」

These would be 「より空で（は）ない」 and 「よりたくさん[入]{はい}っている」, respectively. I must also
add that with 「空の」, the latter expression would sound considerably more
natural than the former. The former form would sound a little wordy to the
majority of the native speakers.

Other examples:

"less mistaken" = 「より[間違]{まちが}っていない」 and 「より[正]{ただ}しい」

"less ugly" = 「より[醜]{みにく}くない」 and 「よりきれいな」

Again, the latter form would be the native speaker's choice in both cases.

