arcade

American  

[ahr-keyd] / ɑrˈkeɪd /

noun

• arcades
  plural

1. Architecture.

   1. a series of arches supported on piers or columns.

   2. an arched, roofed-in gallery.

2. an arched or covered passageway, usually with shops on each side.

3. an establishment, public area, etc., containing games of a mechanical and electronic type, as pinball and video games, that can be played by a customer for a fee.

4. an ornamental carving, as on a piece of furniture, in the form of a row of arches.

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verb (used with object)

arcaded, arcading

1. to provide with an arcade.

arcade British  

/ ɑːˈkeɪd /

noun

1. a set of arches and their supporting columns

2. a covered and sometimes arched passageway, usually with shops on one or both sides

3. a building, or part of a building, with an arched roof

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arcades
  plural

Etymology

Origin of arcade

First recorded in 1725–35; from French, from Italian arcata “arch,” equivalent to arc(o) “arch” + -ata; see arc -ate ¹

Explanation

An arcade is a structure made by enclosing a series of arches and columns. The word's roots go back to the Latin word "arcus," which means arc or bow. An arched, covered passageway with shops or stalls on the sides is also called an arcade and was a precursor to the shopping mall. The Burlington Arcade in London opened in 1819 and was the first shopping arcade of its kind in Britain. It still exists and is the longest covered shopping street in England. As more of these shopping arcades opened, they also began offering games and eventually the word's meaning came to include video arcades, where you can play coin-operated games.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arcade arcades arcaded arcading

We went to this arcade bar called Neon Retro.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Gilligan, a judge on popular ITV series The Masked Singer, recalled spending days on the beach and riding the log flume at the fun park as well playing the penny arcade machines.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

The company, he said, will open a "cultural, artistic, fashion, art, retail food experience" in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the ornate 19th century shopping arcade where the first Prada boutique opened in 1913.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

An arcade, arts-and-crafts studio or children’s museum is a natural location for a kid’s birthday party.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

A door off to one side opened into a hallway that led to the main part of the arcade.

From "Trouble at the Arcade (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #1)" by Franklin W. Dixon

The rest is “walk-in retail,” which includes bowling, arcades, food and beverage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Some 80 percent of the 22,000 arcades Japan had in 1989 have shut down, but revenues have held up thanks to claw machines, according to the Japan Amusement Industry Association.

From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025

And while a modern Chuck E. Cheese is school-cafeteria bright, Chuck’s Arcade is dark, its black walls and low lighting recalling the arcades of the ’80s and ’90s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025

Not churches, not schools — Chuck E. Cheese-style pizza arcades, where the air smells like old fryer oil and fresh anticipation, and an animatronic animal band plays on, unfazed by the passing decades.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025

I went down-stairs and out the door and took a walk around through the arcades around the square.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

Scenes of piazzas, arcaded streets and markets float through this podcast with Kathy McCabe, the host of the PBS “Dream of Italy” series.

From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2020

Installed in the winter-bare garden of an ancient arcaded courtyard were vertical braziers holding firewood.

From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2018

The chapel was very small with a domed, red-tiled roof and round arcaded windows.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2014

There are two streets which are arcaded, where activities are limited, eg preventing the playing of radios or busking.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 17, 2012

The elaborately arcaded and sculptured west front of Ferrara cathedral is a screen to an early building.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 4 "Aram, Eugene" to "Arcueil" by Various

Both walls have an arcading of cinque-foil pattern; and the double piscina and the graduated sedilia are of no less merit.

From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Edward Conybeare

The arcading above the windows of the south aisle, with its banded Early English shafts, is another beautiful feature here.

From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Edward Conybeare

It may be mentioned here that underneath these last windows, on the outside, there is an arcading with simple pointed arches which does not appear on the other transept.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by A. B. Clifton

Below is a very beautiful arcading, similar, indeed, to that in the vestibule, which entirely surrounds the building.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by A. B. Clifton

It consists of an altar-piece of ornamental arcading, surmounted by three tall canopied niches in which are placed sculptured figures representing the Crucifixion, St. Mary, and St. John.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by A. B. Clifton

Related Words

• gallery
• mall
• walkway