vampire
Americannoun
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vampires
plural
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a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night.
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(in Eastern European folklore) a corpse, animated by an undeparted soul or demon, that periodically leaves the grave and disturbs the living, until it is exhumed and impaled or burned.
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a person who preys ruthlessly upon others; extortionist.
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a woman who unscrupulously exploits, ruins, or degrades the men she seduces.
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an actress noted for her roles as an unscrupulous seductress.
the vampires of the silent movies.
noun
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(in European folklore) a corpse that rises nightly from its grave to drink the blood of the living
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See vampire bat
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a person who preys mercilessly upon others, such as a blackmailer
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See vamp 1
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theatre a trapdoor on a stage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of vampire
First recorded in 1725–35; from French or directly from German Vampir, from Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr, alteration of earlier upir (by confusion with doublets such as vȁzdūh, ȕzdūh “air” (from Slavic vŭ- ), and with intrusive nasal, as in dùbrava, dumbrȁva “grove”); akin to Czech upír, Polish upiór, Old Russian upyrĭ, upirĭ ( Russian upýrʾ ), from unattested Slavic u-pirĭ or ǫ-pirĭ, probably a compound noun formed with unattested root per- “fly, rush” (literal meaning variously interpreted)
Explanation
Although traditionally used to refer to the bloodsucking undead, you can use the noun vampire to describe someone who heartlessly preys on others — a blackmailer, or anyone else who just sucks the life out of you. Vampire first appeared as a word in English in the early 1700’s, but folklore surrounding undead creatures that feed off of human blood has been around since the earliest times. Among many supposed abilities, vampires are sometimes believed to be able to take the form of a bat. The word vampire is also used to refer to non-mythical “vampire bats” which are native to the Americas and really do feed on blood.
Vocabulary lists containing vampire
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for May 8–May 14, 2021
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A Mythical Menagerie
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This Week in Words: Current Event Vocabulary for October 28–November 3, 2023
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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:
Pattinson, 40, became something of a pin-up after playing vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight series, alongside American actress Kristen Stewart.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
All 349 “murmurs” in the Twilight saga: In this very scientific investigation, Rachelle Hampton ranked and charted all the times Stephenie Meyer used the word murmur in her YA vampire series.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Eternally Yours” isn’t the first TV comedy to take a bite out of vampire lore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
The vampire schedule applies not just to drivers but all 3,000 team members, organizers and support crew traveling with them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
“Did you hear, there’s supposed to be a vampire coming?”
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
As Mr. Groom and other scholars have stressed, the parasitic connection between vampires and their human prey has been used to grossly symbolize the relationship between rapacious business owners and exploited workers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Instead, his literary vampires already tend to be aristocratic or beautiful and often both.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Port says they’ve decided that the two exist in the same world and that “ghosts can see vampires but vampires cannot see ghosts — otherwise we’d see ghosts all the time on ‘Eternally Yours.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
“When we started researching and looking at other books, TV shows and movies about vampires, none of them were consistent,” Wiseman says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
On the back he wrote, Sparkly vampires rule.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
