📖 V — The English dictionary

va — Everyday, meaning 1: (abbreviation) VA is short for Virginia, a state in the United States, in addresses.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (abbreviation) In the USA, the VA is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which helps people who served in the armed forces.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (French) «Va» is French for "goes" or "go!"; «ça va?» means "how are you?" or "all right?", and sounds like "sa VAH".↗ It is not an English word.↗ Example: (French) "Ça va?" "↗ Oui, ça va bien, merci!"↗ · (French) Il va à l'école — he goes to school.↗ · The letter was sent to Arlington, VA.↗ · (USA) Grandpa gets help from the VA because he was a soldier.↗ · (French) "Va!" shouted the mother — "Go!"↗ · The charger says 500 VA on the label.↗

vacancy — Everyday, meaning 1: A vacancy is a job that is free and waiting for someone to fill it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A vacancy is also an empty room in a hotel.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Vacancy can mean emptiness or lack of thought (formal).↗ Example: There is a vacancy for a teacher at our school.↗ · The hotel sign said «No vacancies».↗ · Dad applied for a vacancy at the bank.↗ · We found a vacancy at the campsite.↗ · There was a vacancy in his stare.↗ · The club has two vacancies.↗

vacant — Everyday, meaning 1: Vacant means empty, not being used or lived in: a vacant seat, a vacant house.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A vacant job is one that nobody is doing yet, so someone may be hired.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A vacant look or expression shows no thought or interest, as if the person is not paying attention.↗ Example: Is this seat vacant?↗ · The toilet sign says «vacant», so you can go in.↗ · The old shop has been vacant for months.↗ · The hotel had no vacancies.↗ · There is a vacant job at the library.↗ · He gave me a vacant stare.↗ · The cinema has 120 seats and 85 are taken, so 35 are vacant.↗ · Old Iktomi led his young Iktomi brood to the place where he had left the turtle, but it was vacant.↗ · Chaos .signified in the ancient cosmogonies the vacant, in- finite space out of which sprang all things that exist.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

vacate — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) To vacate a place is to leave it so that it is empty for someone else.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) To vacate a job or seat is to give it up.↗ Example: Please vacate your seats when the bell rings.↗ · Guests must vacate their rooms by eleven o'clock.↗ · The family had to vacate the flat when the lease ended.↗ · Everyone vacated the building during the fire drill.↗ · The captain vacated his post to become coach.↗ · The hall must be vacated for cleaning.↗ · Such an idea, however, did not occur to him, for he could not conceive how any woman should fill the place his queen had vacated.↗

vacation — Everyday, meaning 1: (US, Canada) A holiday: a time away from school or work, often travelling somewhere for fun.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (US) The time when schools or universities are closed, like the summer vacation.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK, formal) The time when British universities and law courts are closed.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (verb, US) To spend a holiday somewhere: they vacation in Florida.↗ Example: We went on vacation to the beach last summer.↗ · Summer vacation lasts about ten weeks in our town.↗ · Dad took a week's vacation from work.↗ · They vacation at the lake every year.↗ · Our vacation cost 1,200 dollars for the hotel and 300 dollars for food.↗ · In Britain my cousin calls it "the summer holidays".↗ · While the family was on vacation, a neighbour fed the cat.↗ · Vacation begins on the first of January and ends on the last day of December.↗

vaccinate — Everyday, meaning 1: To give a person or animal a vaccine, usually by injection, so that their body learns to fight a disease before catching it.↗ Example: The nurse vaccinated the children against measles.↗ · Our puppy was vaccinated at the vet.↗ · Have you been vaccinated against flu this year?↗ · Doctors vaccinate babies to protect them.↗ · Vaccinating many people stops a disease spreading.↗ · Farmers vaccinate their cows too.↗

vaccinated — Everyday, meaning 1: Given a vaccine, a medicine, usually by an injection, that teaches the body to fight a disease before you catch it.↗ Example: I was vaccinated against measles when I was a baby.↗ · Our dog is vaccinated every year.↗ · The nurse vaccinated the whole class.↗ · Being vaccinated helps stop diseases from spreading.↗ · Have you been vaccinated against flu?↗ · Edward Jenner made the first vaccine to protect against smallpox.↗

vaccinating — Everyday, meaning 1: Vaccinating means giving someone a vaccine, usually by an injection, to protect them from a disease.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It is also used for animals: vets vaccinate dogs, cats and farm animals.↗ Example: The nurse is vaccinating our class against flu today.↗ · Vaccinating pets protects them from serious diseases.↗ · Doctors are vaccinating babies at the clinic.↗ · Vaccinating many people helps stop a disease from spreading.↗ · The vet was vaccinating the puppy.↗ · Vaccinating means the body learns to fight a germ.↗

vaccination — Everyday, meaning 1: A vaccination is an injection or medicine that protects you from a disease by teaching your body to fight it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Vaccination is the act of giving these medicines to people or animals.↗ Example: I had my vaccination at the doctor's today.↗ · Vaccinations help stop diseases like measles.↗ · Our dog needs a rabies vaccination.↗ · The school nurse checked our vaccination records.↗ · My arm was a bit sore after the vaccination.↗ · Vaccination protects babies who are too young to be vaccinated.↗ · Travellers sometimes need vaccinations for other countries.↗

vaccine — Everyday, meaning 1: A vaccine is a medicine, usually given as an injection, that teaches your body to fight a particular disease, so you do not get very ill from it.↗ Example: I had a vaccine at the doctor's, and it only hurt for a second.↗ · The flu vaccine is given every year.↗ · A vaccine trains your body to fight a disease.↗ · Smallpox disappeared thanks to a vaccine.↗ · Edward Jenner made the first vaccine over two hundred years ago.↗ · Scientists test vaccines carefully before people use them.↗ · Some vaccines are given as a nasal spray.↗ · Vaccines protect other people too, like babies who are too young to have them.↗

vacuum — Everyday, meaning 1: A vacuum cleaner: a machine that sucks up dust and dirt from floors and carpets.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To clean with a vacuum cleaner.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In science, a vacuum is a space with no air or anything else in it, like outer space.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A gap left when something is missing: the vacuum left after a friend moves away.↗ Example: Please vacuum your bedroom on Saturday.↗ · The vacuum cleaner sucked up all the crumbs.↗ · Space is almost a vacuum, so there is no air to breathe.↗ · Sound cannot travel through a vacuum.↗ · Coffee in a vacuum flask stays hot for hours.↗ · The cheese is vacuum-packed so it stays fresh.↗ · I'm vacuuming the stairs.↗ · Keep small toys off the floor before you vacuum.↗ · From a Pythagorean point of view the fifth element "aether" like infinity is only another name for vacuum.↗ * Therefore, aether also is logically identical with zero (Com. above p. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

vagabond — Everyday, meaning 1: A vagabond is a person with no home or regular work who wanders from place to place; a tramp.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal, in old tales) A vagabond is a rascal or a scamp, a term of scolding.↗ Example: "That vagabond, bad luck to him--"↗ · "Sit still, you vagabond," said Dudden.↗ · I have been nothing but a truant and a vagabond.↗ · Let his children be vagabonds, and beg; and let them seek their bread out of their desolate places.↗ (Writings PSA.109.10, JPS 1917)↗

vague — Everyday, meaning 1: Vague means not clear or exact: a vague answer, vague directions.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A vague shape or memory is hard to see or remember clearly.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A vague person is absent-minded and does not explain things clearly.↗ Example: Your answer is too vague: please give an example.↗ · I have a vague memory of the trip.↗ · He gave us vague directions, so we got lost.↗ · We saw a vague shape in the mist.↗ · I vaguely remember meeting her.↗ · Grandpa can be a bit vague in the mornings.↗ · Jurgen gave such a vague answer that it was not easy to make out what he meant--the old man brought Else to him, and she said:↗

vaguely — Everyday, meaning 1: Vaguely means in a way that is not clear or exact.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Vaguely can mean slightly, a little.↗ Example: I vaguely remember being a baby.↗ · His face looked vaguely familiar.↗ · She answered vaguely, so we were still confused.↗ · The cloud looked vaguely like a rabbit.↗ · Don't write vaguely; say exactly what happened.↗ · He was vaguely aware of someone calling him.↗

vagueness — Everyday, meaning 1: Vagueness is when something is not clear or exact, so you cannot tell the details.↗ Example: The map was so vague that we got lost.↗ · Her answer had too much vagueness to help us.↗ · The tale is full of vagueness about where the castle stands.↗

vain — Everyday, meaning 1: Too proud of your looks, cleverness or what you have.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Useless; not succeeding: a vain attempt.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «In vain» means without success.↗ Example: The vain crow dropped the cheese when the fox praised her singing.↗ · He is so vain he checks his hair in every window.↗ · They searched in vain for the lost ring.↗ · It was a vain attempt to catch the bus.↗ · Don't be vain about winning; be kind.↗ · She waited in vain for a reply.↗ · The goose hunted everywhere, but in vain.↗ · And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her produce, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.↗ (Torah LEV.26.20, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.↗ (Torah EXO.20.7, JPS 1917)↗ · For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it.'↗ (Torah DEU.32.47, JPS 1917)↗ · How then comfort ye me in vain?↗ (Writings JOB.21.34, JPS 1917)↗ · And why do the peoples mutter in vain?↗ (Writings PSA.2.1, JPS 1917)↗ · I shall be condemned; why then do I labour in vain?↗ (Writings JOB.9.29, JPS 1917)↗

vainly — Everyday, meaning 1: Without success; in vain: he tried vainly to open the door.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (less common) In a vain, proud way about your looks or abilities.↗ Example: Alice tried vainly to reach the golden key.↗ · He searched vainly for his lost glove.↗ · Mole looked vainly for a way out of the wood.↗ · The cat jumped vainly at the bird.↗ · They waited vainly for the bus.↗ · She vainly admired herself in every mirror.↗ · Vainly they tried to imagine what death could be like.↗

vale — Everyday, meaning 1: A vale is a valley, a low green piece of land between hills.↗ It is a poetic and old-fashioned word.↗ Example: Birds sang all morning in the vale.↗ · The village lay in a green vale.↗ · The shepherd led his sheep down into the vale.↗ · All these came as allies unto the vale of Siddim — the same is the Salt Sea.↗ (Torah GEN.14.3, JPS 1917)↗ · Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the Vale; tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.'↗ (Torah NUM.14.25, JPS 1917)↗ · Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.↗ (Torah GEN.14.10, JPS 1917)↗ · now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, are in the vale of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.'↗ (Prophets 1SA.17.19, JPS 1917)↗ · And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched in the vale of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.↗ (Prophets 1SA.17.2, JPS 1917)↗

valediction — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) A valediction is the act of saying goodbye, or the words you use to say goodbye.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) A valediction is a goodbye speech or poem, or the closing words of a letter, such as «Yours sincerely» or «Best wishes».↗ Example: «Yours sincerely» is a polite valediction.↗ · End your letter with a valediction and your name.↗ · The headteacher gave a short valediction at the leaving party.↗ · The poem is a valediction to a friend going away.↗ · A text message rarely has a valediction.↗ · The valedictorian gave a valediction at graduation.↗

valentine — Everyday, meaning 1: A valentine is a card or small gift sent on Valentine's Day to show love or liking, often without signing your name.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Your valentine is the person you send it to or love.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Valentine is also a name, for example Saint Valentine, a Christian saint.↗ Example: I made a valentine with red hearts and glitter.↗ · Will you be my valentine?↗ · Sam got a valentine but did not know who sent it.↗ · Our class made valentines for the people in the care home.↗ · Mum and Dad are each other's valentines.↗ · Saint Valentine is remembered by many churches.↗ · So Valentine took the right, and Oliver went straight on, and poor Jack took the left.↗