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

Some less feature-rich services offer better prices than Proton VPN. —PC Magazine, 14 Nov. 2025

Question: What exactly is a VPN, and why would the average person want one? —Ken Colburn, AZCentral.com, 3 Nov. 2025

The city’s star scale-ups include Nord Security, the $3 billion Lithuanian company behind Nord VPN, and second-hand marketplace Vinted—which has now expanded across Europe and recently unlocked a €5 billion ($5.9 billion) valuation in a secondary share sale. —Anna Heim, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2025

However, to watch the in the US, Americans will first need a VPN, a service that allows users to set their computer’s location to another country and access websites that would otherwise be restricted by location. —Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 27 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1984, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

VPN

noun

ˌvē-ˌpē-ˈen 

: virtual private network