Meaning & use
vault
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Meanings
nouncountable
A strong, secure room, especially in a bank, where valuables or documents are kept.
Grammar: Often with a bank: a bank vault.
Patterns
- a vault in something
- a vault for something
The jewels are locked in a vault beneath the bank.
Staff opened the vault with two separate keys.
The museum stores rare manuscripts in a climate-controlled vault.
nouncountabletechnical
An arched roof or ceiling, as in a church or cellar.
Grammar: Often describes architecture: a stone vault.
Patterns
- the vault of something
The cathedral's vault rose high above the congregation.
Candles lit the stone vault of the cellar.
The ceiling was a ribbed vault of pale stone.
nouncountable
An underground room used for burial, such as in a church or cemetery.
Grammar: Often a family vault.
Patterns
- a family vault
The family vault lies beneath the old chapel.
He was laid to rest in the vault beside his parents.
A heavy slab sealed the vault.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To jump over something, often using your hands or a pole to push yourself up.
Grammar: Takes an object or a direction: vault the fence, vault over a gate.
Patterns
- vault over something
- vault something
He vaulted the fence to escape the dog.
She vaulted over the low wall without slowing down.
The gymnast vaulted high above the horse.
verbintransitivefigurative
To rise suddenly to a much higher position or rank.
Grammar: Often followed by to or into: vault to fame.
Patterns
- vault to something
- vault into something
The singer vaulted to fame after one viral video.
The company vaulted into first place in only two years.
He vaulted ahead of his rivals in the polls.
Word forms
| plural | vaults |
|---|---|
| third person singular | vaults |
| past tense | vaulted |
| past participle | vaulted |
| -ing form | vaulting |
Common combinations
- bank vault
- The thieves broke into the bank vault.
- vault door
- The vault door weighs several tons.
- pole vault
- She won the pole vault with a jump of four meters.
- vaulted ceiling
- The hall has a high vaulted ceiling.
- vault over
- He vaulted over the gate.
- family vault
- Her ashes rest in the family vault.
Synonyms and how they differ
- strongroom
- Strongroom is the British word for a secure storage room and sounds slightly more formal than vault.
- safe
- A safe is a small locked box or cabinet, while a vault is a whole reinforced room.
- leap
- Leap simply means jump, while vault suggests pushing off an object to clear something.
- hurdle
- Hurdle means to jump over obstacles in running, whereas vault means pushing yourself over with the hands or a pole.
Word family
- vaulted adjective
- having an arched ceiling
- vaulting noun
- the arched structure of a ceiling, or the sport of jumping
- vaulter noun
- a person who vaults, such as in the pole vault
- vaultlike adjective
- like a strong secure room
Commonly confused: vault or volt?
vault vs volt
A volt is a unit of electrical force, while a vault is a secure room or an arched ceiling.
Practice
The gymnast gracefully ______ over the horse and landed with both feet together.
Choose one answer.
Vaulted is the past tense form needed with landed in the sentence. Vaults and vault do not match the past tense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vault”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.