vale
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of vale
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French val, from Latin vallem, accusative of vallis, vallēs “valley”
Explanation
A vale is a long depression in the land, usually between two hills and containing a river. A vale is a valley. If you've ever gone to a place where there are mountains, you've seen plenty of mountain ranges, mountaintops, and valleys. Valleys are the low points between hills, and they are also known as vales. A vale often contains a river, because it's the lowest point and therefore somewhere water can settle and flow. If you climb a mountain, you'll see many vales, which are often long and winding. The hills and vales of an area are usually gorgeous and breathtaking.
Vocabulary lists containing vale
The Fellowship of the Ring
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 2
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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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.
See Examples For:
“The NRF forces are present in all strategic positions across the vale to continue the fight,” the group said in a statement on Twitter.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 6, 2021
Perhaps the show’s most moving photograph records her husband, Larry, turning away as he strides across a grassy field above a shallow vale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2019
And why should the Emerald Isle, so betrayed, not have become this vale of tears?
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 22, 2018
"Often on tour, we'd pull over to a greengrocers somewhere in the middle of some vale, buy some bread and cheese, and just pull off the highway and eat in a field," he says.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2016
A vale it was, beyond a doubt, but no wood had grown here for several thousand years, be it black or brown or green.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
His forge sits tucked away in one of the beacons' hidden vales, only a few miles from the cowshed where he made that bold promise all those years ago.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
I’ve enjoyed the recent rains and the way they green the vales and rinse clean our precious strip malls, a point of pride for so many L.A. residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2019
Meanwhile, those huge rainfalls on exposed black dirt wash it to the vales even from the flat ground of our neighborhood.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2018
Along the way, so much wonder and adventure was found in the hills and vales of the Mountain State.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 28, 2016
In his thoughts were vestiges of old skid roads and forgotten farm paths that bled into vales of ghost fern and hollows filled with skunk cabbage.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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.
