vannoun
uk/væn/us/væn/van noun (VEHICLE)
B1 [ C ] a medium-sized road vehicle, used especially for carrying goods, that often has no windows in the sides at the back:
a delivery van
a Transit van
a van driver
[ C ] US a medium-sized vehicle with windows all round , used for carrying more people than an ordinary car
Compare
minibus
minivan
More examples
- There was a series of explosions and the van burst into flames .
- The raiders machine-gunned everyone in the bank before escaping in a van.
- The sound of the ice-cream van was borne into the office on the wind.
- The van drivers refused to cross the picket line .
- Do you want help bringing your stuff in from the van?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Trucks, vans & caravans
- armored car
- armoured car
- bakkie
- bowser
- breakdown truck
- caravan
- Dormobile
- dustcart
- flatbed
- float
- heavy goods vehicle
- JCB
- juggernaut
- lorry
- milk truck
- pantechnicon
- snowplough
- tender
- traction engine
- ute
See more results »
van noun (FRONT)
in the van of sth UK formal
at the front, or in the most advanced position, of something:
The US is in the van of the quest to establish contact with other planets.
See also
the vanguard
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Describing the leading position
- ahead
- be in the front line idiom
- be streets ahead idiom
- front
- frontier
- lead 1
- lead the field/pack/world idiom
- leading edge
- pacemaker
- pioneering
- spearhead
- standard-bearer
- street
- the cutting edge
- the forefront
- the front line
- the frontiers of sth idiom
- the vanguard
- trailblazer