Vilnius

American

[vil-nee-oos] / ˈvɪl niˌʊs /

noun

a city in and the capital of Lithuania, in the SE part: formerly in the Soviet Union and earlier in Poland.

Vilnius British

/ ˈvɪlnɪʊs /

noun

Russian name: Vilna. Polish name: Wilno. the capital of Lithuania: passed to Russia in 1795; under Polish rule (1920–39); university (1578); an industrial and commercial centre. Pop: 544 000 (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.

Lithuania's president and prime minister were forced to take shelter on Tuesday, when a drone alert caused the capital Vilnius to come to a standstill.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

The first time Suranovas tried to pick up the parcels - from an Airbnb in Vilnius - he failed to find the flat.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

"I personally lived in Vilnius for five years. Honestly I was always sure that the next city I would move from Vilnius would be Minsk. But the situation is like it is," she said.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

A little more than 35 years ago, on Jan. 13, 1991, Mr. Landsbergis was hunkered down in the Lithuanian parliament in Vilnius in a bulletproof vest waiting for Soviet forces to storm the building.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026

Lithuania benefits from its ice-free port at Klaipeda on the Baltic Sea and its rail and highway hub at Vilnius, which provides land communication between Eastern Europe and Russia, Latvia, Estonia, and Belarus.

From The 1992 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

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