vial
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
Etymology
Origin of vial
1300–50; Middle English viole, variant of fiole phial
Explanation
The word vial sounds like another word, "vile" (making them homonyms), but they mean completely different things. A vial is just a small glass bottle that contains a chemical or drug. "Vile" is evil. One of the coolest things about the English language is how specific you can get. For example, got a small glass bottle made for carrying chemicals or drugs? There's a word for that! That word is vial. There are bottles for soda and bottles for beer, but if what you're carrying is drugs, chemicals, or similar substances, you're carrying them in a vial.
Vocabulary lists containing vial
"Of Mice and Men"
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Bless Me, Ultima
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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.
But lead singer Dave Bayley "actually lost" the vial of tears in the capsule and "didn't tell anyone from Nasa".
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Soon-Shiong also referred to Anktiva as a “single jab,” later adding that it was a “little vial that you inject subcutaneously.”
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
Security Council, where he held up a small vial of white powder to illustrate the alleged danger of Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons.
From Salon • Mar. 7, 2026
Shalom rubbed the liquid, stored in a small vial, into my scalp with his gloved fingertips.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025
With what might have been a smile or might have been a grimace, he threw the vial into the water.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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.
