Vientiane

American

[vyen-tyahn] / vyɛnˈtyɑn /

noun

a city in and the capital of Laos, on the Mekong River, in the NW part.

Vientiane British

/ ˌvjɛntɪˈɑːn, wiːɛŋtæn /

noun

the administrative capital of Laos, in the south near the border with Thailand: capital of the kingdom of Vientiane from 1707 until taken by the Thais in 1827. Pop: 776 000 (2005 est)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

China is Laos' dominant economic partner through infrastructure investments including a railway linking Vientiane and Kunming, in Yunnan province, and a wider economic corridor.

From Barron's • Dec. 1, 2025

They were sent to a hospital in the capital Vientiane, but died in the middle of the night.

From BBC • Nov. 24, 2024

Nestled among the mountains of northern Laos, Luang Prabang was the capital from the 14th to the 16th century before it was moved to Vientiane.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2024

Laos’s capital, Vientiane, reached 108.5 degrees on Saturday, the hottest temperature on record.

From New York Times • May 12, 2023

Less wary, he meandered sinuously until he made his way close to Nawin who was thinking: "Those foreigners in the tuk- tuk must be in Laos by now—going to Vientiane as I am."

From An Apostate: Nawin of Thais by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023