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:
"Though I walk through death's dark vale, yet will I fear none ill."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2022
“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
It’s the technocratic version of a promise of eternal bliss after we depart this vale of tears.
From The Guardian ● May 26, 2019
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
“I don’t know that it can really be explained beyond that—just a middle-aged man trying his best to make his way through this vale of tears.”
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
The glory that now haloes the vineyard valleys of Sonoma and Santa Ynez, Alexander and Edna, the Russian River, and other dales and vales, once belonged to Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2022
Daphne du Maurier set the opening scene of her novel The Glass-Blowers on the terrace of the house, and it is still there much as it was, hidden amid the wooded vales and pastures.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2022
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
Electric hydraulic vales on two pieces of equipment ease the wear and tear on his arthritic shoulders.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 3, 2014
The island homes were damp and moss covered and lay in solitary fields and vales of alfalfa, feed corn, and strawberries.
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.
