How to use vest in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Vest means a sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat. Example: “The power of life and death is vested in the king, or in the courts.”

Examples of vest by meaning

nounA sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.

Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

nounAny sleeveless outer garment, often for a purpose such as identification, safety, or storage.

He gripped some of the shreds and pulled off his vest and the shirt beneath it, his clothing disintegrating around him.2010, Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, Random House, →ISBN, page 162

verbTo clothe with authority, power, etc.; to put in possession; to invest; to furnish; to endow; followed by with and the...

to vest a court with power to try cases of life and death

verbTo place or give into the possession or discretion of some person or authority; to commit to another; with in before...

The power of life and death is vested in the king, or in the courts.

verbTo clothe with possession; also, to give a person an immediate fixed right of present or future enjoyment of.

to vest a person with an estate
an estate is vested in possession

verb(of an inheritance or a trust fund) To devolve upon the person currently entitled when a prior interest has ended.

Upon the death of the Sovereign the Crown automatically vests in the next heir without the need of coronation or other formality.

verbTo become vested, to become permanent.

My pension vests at the end of the month and then I can take it with me when I quit.
If you doubt that you'll stick around at the company long enough for your options to vest, you should discount the value for that uncertainty as well.2005, Kaye A. Thomas, Consider Your Options, page 104
They were, they said tipsily, essentially being paid to do nothing while earning out — or “vesting” — their stock grants.2025 August 4, Mike Isaac, “A.I. Has Ushered in Silicon Valley’s ‘Hard Tech’ Era”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04...

verbTo invest; to put.

to vest money in goods, land, or houses

More sentences with vest

The SAPI plate in his vest protected him from the bullet's impact.From the entry plate
A crumpled and well-used orange vest hangs over the back of his chair.2025 February 19, Paul Clifton, “I am absolutely committed to reforming the railway”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 39. From the entry hang over
Embroided vests known as Farmla, Jellabiya, and Fouta are made in Libya.2024 June 22, Fouad Sabry, War Bonnet: Strategies and Tactics from the Battlefield to Command, One Billion Knowledgeable. From the entry farmla
His vest had a Kevin Bacon hashtag and a Venmo on it.2023, Abby Jimenez, Yours Truly, London: Piatkus, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN. From the entry venmo
Emerging crewmen hoisted boxes of ammo, firearms, radio sets and life vests on deck.2018 November 5, John J. Tkacik, Jr., “Stars and Stripes over Pratas Island”, in Taipei Times, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2020. From the entry Tungsha
Honestly, there couldn't have been anything more than the thickness of a vest.2016, Michael McEwan (main author, maybe some other runner actually wrote this bit), Running the Smoke: 26 First-Hand Accounts of Tackling…. From the entry sprint finish
The murderers of tomorrow will not be found wearing orange vests at your local sporting goods store.2013 January 17, Daniel Greenfield, “Gun Violence is Not a Republican Problem, It’s a Democratic Problem”, in FrontPage Magazine, Sherman…. From the entry Obamerica
"Is that raintop regulation?" Falk asked, gesturing to the garment the man was wearing under his vest.2011, Dan Abnett, Embedded. From the entry raintop
Where they carried Chanel bags and wore Alaia bandage dresses, Kate wore jeans and a vest top.2009, Laura Collins, Kate Moss: The Complete Picture, page 45. From the entry bandage dress
Or the treasure chest or the wedding dress or the argyle vest.2009, Rachel Skirts, Second Is the Best, page 1. From the entry first is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest
Leon reached down to his vest, unpopping the buttons that secured it beneath the nappy.2008, Benjamin Parker, Leon Prilki, page 118. From the entry unpop
Of someone stingy he would say, "This guy wouldn't give you the sleeves from his vest."2006, Richard Sonnenfeldt, Witness to Nuremberg: The Chief American Interpreter at the War Crimes Trials, page 170. From the entry sleeves from one's vest
Pick up the baby’s vest off the floor and put it on as an undie.2006, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Weight Loss, page 348. From the entry undie
My father with his Christmas-red vest and braggart’s moustache is boycotting the party.1996, Pat Lowther, Time Capsule: New and Selected Poems, Polestar Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 200. From the entry fisheye
Her short stout body was packed into pale pink polyester pants and a matching buttonfront vest.1988 April 15, Laura Flaherty, “The Woman in Pink”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry buttonfront
She wore gauchos and boots and a gypsy blouse and a vest.1978, Richard Rhodes, Holy Secrets, →ISBN, page 144. From the entry gauchos
Su-Suru considered this as he toyed with the silver mamelière on his furred vest.1977, Brian Daley, The Domfarers of Coramonde, Lucia St. Clair Robson, →ISBN, page 181. From the entry mamelière
She rubbed her handglass briskly on her woollen vest against her full wagging bub.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[4]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC. From the entry hand glass
Working the bare minimum while waiting for stock to vest is so common that Googlers call it “resting and vesting.”2023 November 28, JS Tan, “It's All Bullshit”, in The Baffler. From the entry googler
Martin, who wore a stab-proof vest as he sold drugs from behind a plexiglas window inside the shop.2023 May 4, Manisha Krishnan, “Man Arrested After Opening Heroin, Cocaine, and Meth Store in Canada”, in Vice. From the entry stabproof
I am about to hit a button at the base of the back of the vest, Godwilling, that will arm it.2016, Yusuf Toropov, Jihadi: A Love Story. From the entry godwilling
If ever they got around to inventing the smileproof vest, a smile like that would present a very substantial challenge.2012, Tom Holt, You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps. From the entry smileproof
A studded leather vest and shirtdress from Target's McQ collection.2009 January 29, Eric Wilson, “But How Will It Play in Tulsa?”, in New York Times. From the entry shirtdress
There are suit vests, in bankerly worsteds and pinstripes, and “odd vests,” in solid colors, checks and suede.2008 January 10, David Colman, “Ditching the Suit, the Vest Struts Its Stuff”, in New York Times. From the entry bankerly
“Vest busters,” in case the cops harassed him.2008, Kerrie Droban, Running with the Devil: The True Story of the ATF's Infiltration of the Hells Angels, page 121. From the entry vest buster
President," I said, "We don't have anything to deploy so you are giving them the sleeves from your vest.2003, Ronald Reagan, Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Graebner Anderson, Martin Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, page xii. From the entry sleeves from one's vest
We showed up at the bar and it was an ocean of fakely tanned men, wearing vests with no shirts underneath.2002, Georgie Nickell, I Only Smoke on Thursdays. From the entry fakely
One had to ignore her dominatrixlike outfit of skintight black leggings, black leather vest, and floor-piercing high-heeled boots.1993, Charles Busch, Whores of lost Atlantis. From the entry dominatrixlike
Many campaign posters showed candidates wearing "ronkos," or rust-colored cotton vests bathed in special herbs to guard them against invisible bullets.1986 June 29, Associated Press, "Secret Societies Thriving," Sunday Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pennsylvania), page A-18…. From the entry ronko

Meaning of vest

noun A sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.
noun A sleeveless garment, often with a low-cut neck, usually worn under a shirt or blouse.
noun A sleeveless top, typically with identifying colours or logos, worn by an athlete or member of a sports team.

Full definition of vest

Questions about vest in a sentence

How do you use vest in a sentence?: Vest is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The power of life and death is vested in the king, or in the courts.”
What is a short sentence with vest?: “an estate is vested in possession”
What does vest mean?: Vest means a sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.

Adapted from Wiktionary: vest (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use vest in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/vest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.