Glen Meaning
/ɡlɛn/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA secluded and narrow valley, especially one with a river running through it; a depression between hills; a dale.
nameA Scottish habitational surname from Scottish Gaelic for someone who lives in a valley.
Sentence Examples
That glen was beautiful on a calm day.
"Shirley, my political stance is for a Multi-world Civilization." "Glen, you aim high!"
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small stream flowed through the quiet ____ between the hills.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We took a peaceful walk through the narrow ____, following the small stream as it wound through the valley.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English glen, borrowed from Irish gleann and Scottish Gaelic gleann, Old and Middle Irish glend, glenn (“mountain valley”), from Proto-Celtic *glendos (“valley”), hypothetically from Proto-Indo-European *glend- (“shore”) but the word may have been borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language. Compare Manx glion, Welsh glyn. Doublet of glyn.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"What riches too, of gold and jewels, might not be hidden among those forest-shrouded glens and peaks? And beyond, and beyond again, ever new islands, new continents perhaps, an inexhaustible wealth of yet undiscovered worlds."
— 1871, Charles Kingsley, “Down the Islands”, in At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 41:
"Miller suffered a little when Glen Chapple and Mark Clinton came together but finished the spell with figures of five for 35 from 11 overs, mirroring the performances earlier when Chapple and Mahmood undermined the Warwickshire innings."
— 2010 May 18, Mike Averis, “Warwickshire's Andrew Miller takes five wickets then Lancashire bite back”, in The Guardian:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small stream flowed through the quiet ____ between the hills.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We took a peaceful walk through the narrow ____, following the small stream as it wound through the valley.