terrace
Americannoun
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terraces
plural
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a raised level with a vertical or sloping front or sides faced with masonry, turf, or the like, especially one of a series of levels rising one above another.
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the top of such a construction, used as a platform, garden, road, etc.
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a nearly level strip of land with a more or less abrupt descent along the margin of the sea, a lake, or a river.
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the flat roof of a house.
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an open, often paved area connected to a house or an apartment house and serving as an outdoor living area; deck.
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an open platform, as projecting from the outside wall of an apartment; a large balcony.
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a row of houses on or near the top of a slope.
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a residential street following the top of a slope.
verb (used with or without object)
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terraces,
present (3rd person singular)
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terraced,
past participle, past
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terracing
present participle
noun
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a horizontal flat area of ground, often one of a series in a slope
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a row of houses, usually identical and having common dividing walls, or the street onto which they face
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( cap when part of a street name )
Grosvenor Terrace
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a paved area alongside a building, serving partly as a garden
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a balcony or patio
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the flat roof of a house built in a Spanish or Oriental style
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a flat area bounded by a short steep slope formed by the down-cutting of a river or by erosion
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(usually plural)
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unroofed tiers around a football pitch on which the spectators stand
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the spectators themselves
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verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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terracesimple
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terracessimple
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have terracedperfect
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has terracedperfect
-
am terracingprogressive
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are terracingprogressive
-
is terracingprogressive
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have been terracingperfect progressive
-
has been terracingperfect progressive
Past
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terracedsimple
-
had terracedperfect
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was terracingprogressive
-
were terracingprogressive
-
had been terracingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of terrace
1505–15; earlier terrasse < Middle French < Old Provençal terrassa < Vulgar Latin *terrācea, feminine of *terrāceus. See terra, -aceous
Explanation
A terrace is a paved or brick outdoor area right next to a house or apartment. You might have a nice dinner out on your terrace, enjoying the sunset. Terrace and patio are synonyms. Another meaning for terrace is "a block of row houses that are connected by shared walls and are built in a similar style." Terrace also refers to flat areas on a hillside where people farm or have built houses. That land has been terraced, meaning "made into shelves."
Vocabulary lists containing terrace
Learning Down The House: Parts of Your Home
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Elements of the Universe: Terr, Terra ("Earth")
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South America - Middle School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Outside, tables spilled across a terrace and onto the sand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
But glasses have been reserved for visitors planning to watch from the visitor attraction's rooftop terrace available on a first-come, first-served, basis.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
I step off the restaurant’s orderly little terrace and make a slow serpentine path past makeshift dinner parties.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
From above, an outdoor terrace is outfitted especially for hosting recruits or other luminaries, complete, for the time being, with basketball courts and pickleball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
They choked the terrace, they sprawled about the paths, they leant, vulgar and lanky, against the very windows of the house.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
There are also three docks, a pool, and terraces surrounding the property.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Whether made with Aperol, Campari or Sarti, the spritz has rapidly established itself on terraces across Europe -- with Italy's Campari Group now hoping to conquer the heart of America.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
“A glass-and-timber gym, barrel sauna, outdoor soaking tub, multiple covered terraces, five-car garage, and parking for four additional vehicles complete the property,” reads the listing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The 23-year-old has undoubtedly enjoyed a productive week at the quaint club nestled in the Victorian terraces of west London.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
North of Kaan, half a dozen small cities improved agricultural conditions by lifting up entire fields and carving out rain-retaining terraces on dry hillsides.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Nearby in Highters Heath, multiple terraced properties caught fire.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
As we climbed the terraced pools of the West Kill, I concentrated on keeping my cast short and precise until I caught my first brook trout, or “brookie.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Oren Brown, 27, usually works in a dedicated office room but says his terraced house in County Durham is "horribly stifling upstairs".
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
“The gated, private parcel offers dramatic panoramic city views and sweeping vistas, with multiple usable tiers featuring generous flat pads, terraced gardens, and a dedicated pool level,” the description notes.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
They crossed the rolling hills of Norvos, past terraced farms and small villages where the townsfolk watched anxiously from atop white stucco walls.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
A different report discussed terracing the river upstream from that spot — changing the sloped shape of the sides into steps, “and in those steps, you might insert areas for landscaping to grow,” Weintraub said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2024
If you look through the history books, it is 30 years since Norwich won at Anfield - in the last game played in front of the Kop when it was still terracing.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2024
In addition to constructing dams and irrigation systems, the people of this region collected water from flash floods and used terracing in hilly regions.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
In 2011, they began a fresh exploration of the city’s northeastern edge, a kind of premature suburban sprawl originally dedicated to agricultural terracing that had been converted for funerary and artisanal purposes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2023
The principal reason for its success was its innovative techniques of terracing and irrigation, the latter being used to implement the former.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
