Standard Lemma guide

vagus

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈveɪ.ɡəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: Vegas
  • rhymes with -eɪɡəs

1

noun

Meaning 1

A homeless person or vagrant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: Catholicism, Christianity, Roman-Catholicism

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Ellipsis of vagus nerve.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

Topics: anatomy, medicine, neuroanatomy, neurology, neuroscience, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a mixed nerve that supplies the pharynx and larynx and lungs and heart and esophagus and stomach and most of the abdominal viscera

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vagus nerve, nervus vagus, pneumogastric, pneumogastric nerve, tenth cranial nerve, wandering nerve

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cranial nerve

History

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin vagus (“wandering, rambling, strolling”).