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
Many of such binaries will at some point transfer mass from one star to another, a kind of stellar vampirism depicted in this artist’s impression.
From Salon • Nov. 28, 2023
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
We offer a translation from the brief version of Michelet, who accuses Goethe of bad taste for having introduced the Slavic idea of vampirism into a purely Greek story.
From One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances One of Cleopatra's Nights?Clarimonde?Arria Marcella?The Mummy's Foot?Omphale: a Rococo Story?King Candaules by Gautier, Th?ophile
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.
