How do you use the word "van" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "van" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "van": I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Van Dorgen Exhibition. The Van Horn family was in the chips.

Van Meaning

/væn/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.

nounAn enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods, such as a boxcar/box van.

Sentence Examples

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Van Dorgen Exhibition.

The Van Horn family was in the chips.

The driver of a white van

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

vanguard

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The moving company loaded all the boxes into a large ____ to transport them across town.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

We used a large white ____ to transport all our furniture to the new apartment on the other side of town today.

Word Origin & History

Short for caravan.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"While Santa Monica has a longstanding prohibition against public camping that includes living in vehicles, the van rental business has been a problem in Venice for years. […] Organizations that provide safe parking locations have limited capacity and are often unable to accommodate the kind of non-operational vans that are being repurposed as makeshift housing." — 2023 May 19, Matthew Hall, “Los Angeles Councilwoman targets “vanlord” industry”, in Santa Monica Daily Press:

"Carbon emissions from vans in the UK have risen by 63% since 1990, new analysis shows, as cars are getting cleaner. While more people are opting to drive electric or plug-in hybrid cars, van drivers still prefer diesel because electric vans are much more expensive with little choice of models." — 2024 June 22, James Tapper, “Carbon emissions from vans still rising as UK drivers cling to diesel”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

"Designed to be fully mobile and self-contained, the complete equipment includes an air-conditioned van containing all necessary electronic gear and a flat bed trailer in which missiles, jet engines and other large assemblies may be cleaned." — 1959, Western Aerospace, volume 39, page 46:

"I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them." — 1966, United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

"[They] had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing." — 1999, Bonnie Bryant, Changing Leads, page 53:

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