Meaningless, largely empty confusion (4)
I believe the answer is:
mess
'confusion' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mess that I've seen before include "Meal" , "Jumble" , "Forces' dining room" , "Disagreeable mixture" , "Confused situation" .)