vigilance

Borrowed from Middle French vigilance, from Latin vigilantia

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪdʒɪlɪns/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪdʒɪləns/

vigilance (usually uncountable, plural vigilances)

1. Alert watchfulness.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

2. Close and continuous attention.
   • 1837 March 4, Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address

     But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.

3. (obsolete) A guard; a person set to watch.

• vigilant

Borrowed from Latin vigilantia; equivalent to vigile +‎ -ance

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʒi.lɑ̃s/
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

vigilance f (plural vigilances)

1. vigilance

• “vigilance” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).