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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

vault.

An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/vɒlt/UK/vɔːlt/UK/vɑlt/US/vɔlt/US
  1. An arched masonry structure supporting and forming a ceiling, whether freestanding or forming part of a larger building.

    The decoration of the vault of Sainte-Chapelle was much brighter before its 19th-century restoration.
  2. Any arched ceiling or roof.

  3. Anything resembling such a downward-facing concave structure, particularly caves and the sky or firmament.

    figuratively
    The stalactites held tightly to the cave's vault.
  4. The space covered by an arched roof, particularly underground rooms and (Christianity, obsolete) church crypts.

  5. Any cellar or underground storeroom.

  6. Any burial chamber, particularly those underground.

    Family members had been buried in the vault for centuries.
  7. The secure room or rooms in or below a bank used to store currency and other valuables; similar rooms in other settings.

  8. Any archive of past content.

    figuratively · often
  9. An encrypted digital archive.

  10. A membraneless organelle found in most eukaryotic cells first identified in 1986.

  11. An underground or covered conduit for water or waste; a drain; a sewer.

    obsolete
  12. An underground or covered reservoir for water or waste; a cistern; a cesspit.

    obsolete
  13. A room employing a cesspit or sewer: an outhouse; a lavatory.

    euphemistic · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English vaute, vowte, from Old French volte (modern voûte), from Vulgar Latin *volta < *volvita or *volŭta, a regularization of Latin volūta (compare modern volute (“spire”)), the past participle of volvere (“roll, turn”). Cognate with Spanish vuelta (“turn”) and Portuguese volta ("turn"). Doublet of volute. Displaced native Old English hwealf.

verb/vɒlt/UK/vɔːlt/UK/vɑlt/US/vɔlt/US
  1. To build as, or cover with a vault.

    transitive
  2. To store in a vault.

    transitive
  3. To remove (an item, character, etc.) from a video game in an update.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English vaute, vowte, from Old French volte (modern voûte), from Vulgar Latin *volta < *volvita or *volŭta, a regularization of Latin volūta (compare modern volute (“spire”)), the past participle of volvere (“roll, turn”). Cognate with Spanish vuelta (“turn”) and Portuguese volta ("turn"). Doublet of volute. Displaced native Old English hwealf.

verb/vɒlt/UK/vɔːlt/UK/vɑlt/US/vɔlt/US
  1. To jump or leap over with a hand and/or foot on the item for support.

    ambitransitive
    The fugitive vaulted over the fence to escape.
    The fugitive vaulted the fence to escape.
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Middle French volter (“to turn or spin around; to frolic”), borrowed from Italian voltare, itself from a Vulgar Latin frequentative form of Latin volvere; later assimilated to Etymology 1, above.

noun/vɒlt/UK/vɔːlt/UK/vɑlt/US/vɔlt/US
  1. An act of vaulting, formerly (chiefly) by deer; a leap or jump.

  2. A piece of apparatus used for performing jumps.

  3. A gymnastic movement performed on this apparatus.

  4. Synonym of volte: a circular movement by the horse.

  5. An event or performance involving a vaulting horse.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Middle French volter (“to turn or spin around; to frolic”), borrowed from Italian voltare, itself from a Vulgar Latin frequentative form of Latin volvere; later assimilated to Etymology 1, above.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.