Meaning & use
vigil
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Meanings
nouncountable
A period of staying awake and alert, often at night, in order to watch over someone or something.
Grammar: Often used with keep: keep a vigil.
Patterns
- keep a vigil
- a vigil over someone
- an all-night vigil
She kept a vigil by her grandfather's hospital bed.
The family held an all-night vigil during the storm.
Police kept a vigil outside the building.
nouncountable
A quiet gathering of people, often with candles, to show respect, grief or support for a cause.
Grammar: Often used with hold: hold a vigil.
Patterns
- hold a vigil
- a candlelight vigil
Hundreds attended a candlelight vigil for the victims.
Neighbors held a vigil outside the school.
The vigil ended in silence.
nouncountablereligion
The evening or day before a religious festival, observed with prayer.
Grammar: Religious use: the vigil of Easter.
Patterns
- the vigil of something
The congregation gathered for the Easter vigil.
They attended the vigil on Christmas Eve.
The monks prayed during the vigil of the feast.
Word forms
| plural | vigils |
|---|
Common combinations
- keep a vigil
- The nurse kept a vigil by the child's bed.
- candlelight vigil
- Neighbors lit candles at a candlelight vigil.
- hold a vigil
- Protesters held a vigil outside the court.
- all-night vigil
- Fans held an all-night vigil outside the hospital.
- silent vigil
- A silent vigil took place in the square.
Synonyms and how they differ
- watch
- Watch is a general word for staying alert, while vigil suggests a solemn, purposeful watch.
- wake
- A wake is a gathering before a funeral, whereas a vigil can be for many reasons and does not need a death.
- lookout
- A lookout is a person or place for spotting danger, not a ceremonial watch.
- stakeout
- Stakeout is informal and describes police watching a place, whereas a vigil is not necessarily secret.
Opposites
Word family
- vigilant adjective
- watchful and alert to danger
- vigilance noun
- careful attention to possible danger
- vigilante noun
- a person who takes the law into their own hands
- vigilantly adverb
- in a watchful way
Commonly confused: vigil or vigilante?
vigil vs vigilante
A vigilante punishes crime without legal power, while a vigil is a peaceful watch or gathering.
Practice
Friends gathered for a candlelight ___ to remember the victims.
Choose one answer.
A vigil is a quiet gathering to show respect or grief, and it fits candlelight. The other words look similar but have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vigil”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.