Vigil

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪdÊ’É™l

Origin

Middle English vigile ("a devotional watching"), from Old French vigile, from Latin vigilia ("wakefulness, watch"), from vigil ("awake"), from Proto-Indo-European *weg- ("to be strong").

Related to vigor, and more distantly compare vis and vital, from similar Proto-Indo-European roots and meanings (lively, power, life), via Latin. For use of “live, alive” in sense “watching”, compare qui vive.

Full definition of vigil

Noun

1. A watch kept during normal sleeping hours, especially over the body of a recently deceased or dying person.
2. A period of observation or surveillance.
3. The eve of some religious festival in which staying awake is part of the ritual devotions.

Synonyms

• (watch, especially at night) lookout, look-out, qui vive, watch

Related terms

• vigilance
• vigilant