noun
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the fact, quality, or condition of being vigilant
-
the abnormal state or condition of being unable to sleep
Usage
What does vigilance mean? Vigilance is the state of being watchful or alert for danger or some other kind of trouble.Vigilance is the noun form of the adjective vigilant, meaning watchful or alert.Vigilance is often used when talking about keeping something out or in—whether that means keeping mistakes out of your work, robbers out of your home, or the dog inside the house.In a medical context, vigilance is sometimes used as a synonym for insomnia—the state of being unable to sleep.Example: We must be vigilant if we want to protect our home from invaders.
Other Word Forms
- hypervigilance noun
- nonvigilance noun
- previgilance noun
- supervigilance noun
Etymology
Origin of vigilance
First recorded in 1560–70; alteration ( -ance for -ancy ) of obsolete vigilancy, from Latin vigilantia; vigilant, -ancy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their parents often live in a state of chronic vigilance.
"All important locations... including railway stations, highways, subway stations and airports are maintaining a high level of alert and vigilance," Cho told reporters.
From Barron's
Earlier he had called for "vigilance" in response to the "alleged withdrawal".
From BBC
The Justice Department’s filing in federal court Wednesday said the pilots of an Army Black Hawk helicopter “failed to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid” an American Airlines regional jet.
Instead, we might pause and recognize how we might exercise more vigilance about the ways some people are treated differently from others, which is all that anyone like Adebayo might ask.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
