vigil

American  

[vij-uhl] / ˈvɪdʒ əl /

noun

1. wakefulness or watchfulness maintained for any reason during the normal hours for sleeping.

   They passed many hours in vigil.

2. a watch or a period of watchful attention maintained at night or at other times.

   The nurse kept her vigil at the bedside of the dying man.

3. a quiet demonstration to support a cause, protest an injustice, honor the dead, etc..

   A candlelight vigil in remembrance of the two fallen officers will be held tonight at sundown.

4. Ecclesiastical.

   1. Sometimes vigils a nocturnal devotional exercise or service, especially on the eve before a church festival.

      The Easter vigil reflects on the holy sacraments as well as the resurrection and ascension of Christ.

   2. the eve, or day and night, before a church festival, especially an eve that is a fast.

5. a period of wakefulness from inability to sleep.

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vigil British  

/ ˈvɪdʒɪl /

noun

1. a purposeful watch maintained, esp at night, to guard, observe, pray, etc

2. the period of such a watch

3. RC Church Church of England the eve of certain major festivals, formerly observed as a night spent in prayer: often marked by fasting and abstinence and a special Mass and divine office

4. a period of sleeplessness; insomnia

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Etymology

Origin of vigil

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English vigil(i)e, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin vigilia “eve of a holy day,” special use of Latin vigilia “watchfulness,” equivalent to vigil “sentry” + -ia -y ³

Example Sentences

The New York Times’ Adam Liptak described her role this way in 2019: “Justice Sonia Sotomayor … maintains a sort of vigil in the capital cases other justices treat as routine.”

From Slate • Mar. 27, 2026

Hundreds of people have attended a vigil in Londonderry city centre in memory of Amy Doherty who was killed in the city last weekend.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

Consuegra was among a group of supporters who held a vigil in Little Havana in Miami on Thursday for the men who were killed and injured.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

Hundreds of people showed up for a midweek vigil at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, where some of the family worships, a few days after Guthrie disappeared.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

I sat down on the cot that was meant for my father’s wife, the cot where she must have spent many nights on both a vigil and a deathwatch.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

Related Words

• observance
• patrol