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The history of "vitrine" is clear as glass. It comes to English by way of the Old French word vitre, meaning "pane of glass," from Latin vitrum, meaning "glass." "Vitrum" has contributed a number of words to the English language besides "vitrine." "Vitreous" ("resembling glass" or "relating to, derived from, or consisting of glass") is the most common of these. "Vitrify" ("to convert or become converted into glass or into a glassy substance by heat and fusion") is another. A much rarer "vitrum" word - and one that also entered English by way of "vitre" - is vitrailed, meaning "fitted with stained glass."
Examples of vitrine in a Sentence
Anthony Demarco, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Enormous suites, which Four Seasons says are the largest at sea, feel over the top in all the best ways, filled with yards of marble, rich carpets, and vitrines stocked with objets d’art and, naturally, Assouline books as well as the occasional Ian Fleming novel.
—Paul Brady, Travel + Leisure, 15 May 2026
Meanwhile, Karuk/Yurok artist Miller Robinson pulled baskets from Indigenous communities out of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s storage and arranged them in vitrines, adding to them little butterflies and plastic hearts.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 12 May 2026
On the other side of the scale, in a vitrine at one end of the space, are a group of five small scrapbooks.
—Vince Aletti, New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for vitrine
Cite this Entry
“Vitrine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vitrine. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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