1
a
: a usually enclosed wagon or motortruck used for transportation of goods or animals
also
: caravan sense 2a
b
: a multipurpose enclosed motor vehicle having a boxlike shape, rear or side doors, and side panels often with windows
c
: a detachable passenger cabin transportable by aircraft or truck
2
chiefly British
: an enclosed railroad freight or baggage car
1
dialectal, England
: a winnowing device (such as a fan)
2
Examples of van in a Sentence
Noun (2)
an artist who was in the van of abstract expressionism
a company that is considered by some to be in the van of the latest technology for renewable energy
Recent Examples on the Web
Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 13 Aug. 2025
The family, which then included Kevin Jr. and Joe, would spend several months at a time traveling in a 15-passenger van.
—Ilana Frost, People.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Bruce Dorminey, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2025
In this new study on guppies, zoologists Wouter van der Bijl and Judith Mank from The University of British Columbia in Canada bred three generations of increasingly orange guppies.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for van
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Noun
She was picked up in a van on Indian Village Road by three locals who drove around the reservation for a time before stopping at a boat landing at Kiboniki Lake.
—Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 13 Aug. 2025
The family, which then included Kevin Jr. and Joe, would spend several months at a time traveling in a 15-passenger van.
—Ilana Frost, People.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Verb
In 2013, using some of the first ALMA observations van der Marel and colleagues detected the existence of a dust trap in a protoplanetary disk around the young A-type star Oph-IRS 48, located some 400 light-years away in the Northern constellation of Ophiuchus.
—Bruce Dorminey, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2025
In this new study on guppies, zoologists Wouter van der Bijl and Judith Mank from The University of British Columbia in Canada bred three generations of increasingly orange guppies.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for van
Cite this Entry
“Van.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/van. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
van
2 of 2 noun1
: a usually closed wagon or truck for transporting goods or animals
2
: an enclosed motor vehicle shaped like a box that is used for a variety of purposes and has rear or side doors and side panels often with windows
Etymology
Noun
a shortened form of vanguard
Noun
a shortened form of caravan "vehicle"
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