noun
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belief in the existence of vampires
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the actions of vampires; bloodsucking
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the act of preying upon or exploiting others
Etymology
Origin of vampirism
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.
In 1746, Antoine Augustin Calmet, a French Benedictine monk, published what Mr. Blair calls the “most influential academic work” on vampirism and shaped the emerging genre of Gothic fiction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
Some of the world's deadliest bacteria seek out and feed on human blood, a newly-discovered phenomenon researchers are calling "bacterial vampirism."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 16, 2024
When Jonathan comes under the count's spell and begins slipping into vampirism, it is Mina who must rescue him and join the hunt for Dracula in England.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2023
Questions of race and vampirism did not arise with Rice's novel but vampire narratives have long taken on the bloody discourses of race and prejudice.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2022
She told me, after we knew each other better, that she was doing graduate work in regional superstitions and had decided that her thesis would treat of the history of vampirism.
From Each Man Kills by Victoria Glad
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.
