vampire

C2 Topic:General Vocabulary

Also spelled wampyr

US /ˈvæm.paɪ.ə(ɹ)/ See IPA manual

Freq #3159

Meanings

1

noun
A mythological creature (usually humanoid and undead) said to feed on the blood or life energy of the living.

Bram Stoker's novel Dracula built on centuries-old stories of vampires and also encouraged new growth of the mythology.
2

noun
A person with habits traditionally ascribed to (literal) vampires, such as heliophobia, being a night owl, having pale skin, and so on.

Near-synonyms: heliophobe, goth.
3

noun
A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.

Emotional vampire.
4

noun
A vamp: a seductive woman who exploits men.

"What followed this decision was exactly what we had expected: Mr. Fox, realizing that the public was tiring of Theda Bara in vampire roles, announced that he would star her in a production of Romeo and Juliet," she illustrated.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a mythological creature... lamianosferatu

2 noun · a person with habits... gothheliophobe

3 noun · a person who drains one's... hematophagoushemovore

Word family

Derived forms vampicidevampiredomvampirehoodvampirekindvampirelessvampirelikevampiresquevampiressvampirettevampireyvampireynessvampiric

Related forms vamp

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

vampire bat
a tropical American bat that feeds on the blood of other animals

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Vampire entered English in the mid-18th century from Hungarian vampir, perhaps from Turkish uber, “witch.” It denoted the blood-sucking corpse of folklore, and vampire bat was formed from it in the late 18th century.

Etymology

From French vampire, from German Vampir, via Hungarian from a Slavic word, probably Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr /ва̀мпӣр, from Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь, further possibly from Proto-Turkic *ōpur (“glutton, witch, evil spirit”). Doublet of oupire.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# vampire

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈvæm.paɪ.ə(ɹ)/
**Frequency rank:** 3159

## Meanings
1. A mythological creature (usually humanoid and undead) said to feed on the blood or life energy of the living.
2. A person with habits traditionally ascribed to (literal) vampires, such as heliophobia, being a night owl, having pale skin, and so on.
3. A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.
4. A vamp: a seductive woman who exploits men.

## Examples
- Bram Stoker's novel Dracula built on centuries-old stories of vampires and also encouraged new growth of the mythology.
- Near-synonyms: heliophobe, goth.
- Emotional vampire.
- "What followed this decision was exactly what we had expected: Mr. Fox, realizing that the public was tiring of Theda Bara in vampire roles, announced that he would star her in a production of Romeo and Juliet," she illustrated.

## Derived Forms
- vampicide
- vampiredom
- vampirehood
- vampirekind
- vampireless
- vampirelike
- vampiresque
- vampiress
- vampirette
- vampirey
- vampireyness
- vampiric

## Related Forms
- vamp

## Etymology
From French vampire, from German Vampir, via Hungarian from a Slavic word, probably Serbo-Croatian vàmpīr /ва̀мпӣр, from Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь, further possibly from Proto-Turkic *ōpur (“glutton, witch, evil spirit”). Doublet of oupire.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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