barracks

British  

/ ˈbærəks /

plural noun

1. a building or group of buildings used to accommodate military personnel

2. any large building used for housing people, esp temporarily

3. a large and bleak building

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Etymology

Origin of barracks

C17: from French baraque , from Old Catalan barraca hut, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

Besides the chapel, they are a trolley station, a wing of barracks and the superintendent’s and governor’s residences.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

I spoke to sources who have worked in a defense capacity, and they said most likely this was human error—that it’s right next to a barracks and it could have been an error in combat.

From Slate • Mar. 3, 2026

Paroled Union soldiers at Camp Douglas in Chicago set fire to their barracks in protest.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

“When the Emperor Was Divine” takes place in Utah, in “a city of tar-paper barracks behind a barbed-wire fence on a dusty alkaline plain.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

There were no walls, no barbed wire, and the barracks had windowboxes.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom