colonnade
Americannoun
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Architecture. a series of regularly spaced columns supporting an entablature and usually one side of a roof.
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a series of trees planted in a long row, as on each side of a driveway or road.
noun
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a set of evenly-spaced columns
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a row of regularly spaced trees
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of colonnade
1710–20; < French, equivalent to colonne column + -ade -ade 1, on the model of Italian colonnato
Explanation
A colonnade is a row of tall columns that support a building or a roof. You might see a colonnade at the front of a museum. Ancient Greek and Roman buildings were often designed with a colonnade supporting them, and classically designed buildings still sometimes include a colonnade. Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial is fronted by a colonnade, and even ordinary libraries, post offices, and museums might have them. The word was first used in the 1700s, and it comes from the French colonnade, with its Latin root of columna, or "pillar."
Vocabulary lists containing colonnade
Ancient Greece - Middle School and High School
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The Waste Land
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The Odyssey
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the White House, a historic rose garden conceived by Jacqueline Kennedy was paved over, and its adjoining colonnade refurbished with black granite and gilded presidential portraits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
"The White House is therefore considering the idea of a modest one-storey addition to the West Wing colonnade which would serve to restore a sense of symmetry around the original central pavilion."
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
We begin with a green fairy under the colonnade.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
He unveiled a "Presidential Walk of Fame" along the West Wing colonnade in September, displaying gold-framed portraits of himself and the 44 other presidents along the white exterior wall.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025
He’d been hidden in the shadows of the western colonnade when the bells of Black Protocol had begun to ring, the chimes of the Elderclock booming over the island, shaking the air.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
