vigil Hear it!

vigil Definition

vigil (vijəl)

noun

    1. a purposeful or watchful staying awake during the usual hours of sleep
    2. a watch kept, or the period of this
  1. Eccles. the evening or day before a festival, or the devotional services held then

Etymology: ME vigile < OFr < L vigilia, a watch < vigil, awake < vegere, to arouse: see wake

vigil Synonyms

vigil

n.

watch, wakefulness, sleeplessness, sentry duty, wake; see also watchfulness.

vigil Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • prayer: All Night Vigils for Peace Jane White has offered to arrange all night vigils of prayer at Sacred Heart during the present crisis.

Converse of object

  • hold: Peace campaigners in Swindon held a vigil in the town center to mark the day.
  • organize: Iranians organized big candle-light vigils for America after September 11, in sympathy!
  • organize: Things you could do: Organize a prayer vigil for the people of the Middle East.
  • keep: His brother, who has flown over from Prague to be with him, is keeping a vigil at his bedside.
  • mount: At 3.30pm, a few hundred gathered among the Victorian buildings of the city's George Square to mount a vigil.
  • attend: Each of the members who attend the vigil will have to stay in the cell for 10 minutes with only a camera for company.

Preposition: for

  • peace: She told me of the 24-hour vigils for peace held in her local Church of Ireland.

Adjective modifier

  • all-night: St Basil the Great, 4th century The all-night vigil is celebrated on the eve of the main feasts of the Orthodox Church.
  • silent: There will follow a silent vigil outside Downing Street, timed to coincide with the Queens speech.
  • 24-hour: The duration - for example, by reducing a 24-hour vigil to four hours.
  • anti-war: SMALL anti-war vigils are happening around Britain and anti-war leaflets are being offered to mostly uninterested passers-by.
  • lonely: One, a lonely vigil in the style of its pioneer; the other, a more sociable affair.

Noun used with modifier

  • candlelit: An annual candlelit vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park was the only official event on Chinese soil to mark the 1989 massacre.
  • candle-lit: In May members staged a candle-lit vigil outside the Kingdom Hall in Benton, Kentucky.
  • candlelight: Photo left from candlelight vigil at Swindon last December.
  • bedside: Little Mo maintains a bedside vigil at the hospital.
  • prayer: Things you could do: Organize a prayer vigil for the people of the Middle East.
  • solidarity: Approach them to stage a solidarity vigil on the first day of our trail at an Irish Embassy or Consul.

Browse dictionary entries near vigil

  1. vigesimal
  2. viga
  3. vig
  4. viewy
  5. viewpoint
  6. viewless
  7. viewing
  8. viewfinder
  9. viewership
  10. viewer
  1. vigil light
  2. vigilance
  3. vigilance committee
  4. vigilant
  5. vigilante
  6. vigilantism
  7. vigneron
  8. vignette
  9. Vigny
  10. Vigo