hostel
Americannoun
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Also called youth hostel. an inexpensive, supervised lodging place for young people on bicycle trips, hikes, etc.
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(formerly) a residence for the exclusive use of boarding Indigenous students, separate from but close to any of a series of day schools in northern Canada that were operated or funded by the federal government and were themselves open to students of any ethnicity.
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British. a student residence at a university or boarding school.
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an inn.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a building providing overnight accommodation, as for the homeless, etc
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See youth hostel
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a supervised lodging house for nurses, workers, etc
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archaic another word for hostelry
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hostel
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English (h)ostel, from Old French, from Late Latin hospitāle “guest room”; see hospital
Explanation
If you backpack around Europe and are traveling on a budget, you will probably want to stay in a hostel, an inexpensive lodging made typically for young travelers willing to sleep in dorms. The word hostel comes from the Latin hospitale meaning "inn, large house." Think of a hostel as an inn for students or young people. Often you can stay in one of these places for relatively little money because multiple beds are in one room and you share the bathroom with other guests. If you want to meet traveling students, you could try opening a youth hostel in your home town.
Vocabulary lists containing hostel
Some Tricky Homonyms
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To All the Boys I've Loved Before
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Born a Crime
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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.
American Hustle and Apocalypse Now star Colleen Camp, Hostel star and creator Eli Roth, and singer and YouTuber Trisha Paytas have also joined the cast.
From BBC • Oct. 17, 2025
Her business partner Bernadelle Richter, who originally hired her to perform folk music at an American Youth Hostel folk weekend, handled the business side of her career.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 11, 2024
“Everyone is very excited about how it's going to be,” says Maren-Louise Paulsen Kristensen, co-owner and manager of Inuk Hostel.
From BBC • Oct. 20, 2024
One of the units in the duplex between the common area and LA Modern Hostel has been advertised as LA Modern Hostel 2 — located at 2123 S. West View St.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2024
Every Hostel in the district, and they were numerous owing to the recently-opened Munitions Factory near Questerham, had rapidly become, as it were, fish for Miss Vivian's net.
From The War-Workers by Delafield, E.M.
Definitions 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.
