VPN

noun

ˌvē-ˌpē-ˈen 

plural VPNs

: a private computer network that functions over a public network : virtual private network

As more employees connect to their office networks from home, they expose the company to attack. A VPN lets companies use the Internet as a secure pathway into their existing network.

—Michael Bertin

VPNs help cloak your browsing information from your internet provider. When you use VPN software, your device connects to a VPN provider's servers. That way, all your web traffic passes through the VPN provider's internet connection.

—Brian X. Chen

Examples of VPN in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Free users of Proton VPN can use it to protect one device at a time and can’t choose which country the VPN connects through. —PC Magazine, 14 May 2025

These also tend to be consumers of independent news, often via YouTube (watched via VPN), which for many Russians is now a main platform for getting information and opinions outside official channels. —Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 9 May 2025

They were all connected to the same virtual private network (VPN) used in one or more of the cyber incidents, according to the complaint. —Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 26 Apr. 2025

Within less than two years, Chai has garnered more than 850,000 subscribers to her channel, despite YouTube being blocked in China, accessible only by using a virtual private network (VPN). —Wenxin Fan, NPR, 11 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1984, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

VPN

noun

ˌvē-ˌpē-ˈen

: virtual private network