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Synonyms

boarder

American  
[bawr-der, bohr-] / ˈbɔr dər, ˈboʊr- /

noun

  1. a person, especially a lodger, who is supplied with regular meals.

  2. a member of a boarding party.


boarder British  
/ ˈbɔːdə /

noun

  1. a pupil who lives at school during term time

  2. a child who lives away from its parents and is cared for by a person or organization receiving payment

  3. another word for lodger

  4. a person who boards a ship, esp one who forces his way aboard in an attack

    stand by to repel boarders

  5. informal a person who takes part in sailboarding or snowboarding

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of boarder

First recorded in 1520–30; board + -er 1

Explanation

A boarder is someone who rents a room in someone's house. It can also be a student who lives and studies away from home at a boarding school. There are two main meanings of boarder, but they both involve staying somewhere away from home. A boarding school is a private school where students live as well as study. Those students are called boarders. Also, if someone rents a room of their house to guests, the guests are boarders. Holden Caulfield, the main character of "Catcher in the Rye," was a boarder; that is, until he got thrown out of Pencey Prep.

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Vocabulary lists containing boarder

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.

“I was so traumatized,” Morrow, a school bus driver and dog boarder, said in an interview.

From Salon • Apr. 15, 2026

A Seattle Fire Department rescue swimmer swam to that paddle boarder, and with help from a nearby boat, brought that person to shore, too.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 20, 2024

The experiment, published in the Science Advances journal, used levitating magnets to detect gravity on microscopic particles -- small enough to boarder on the quantum realm.

From Science Daily • Feb. 25, 2024

On the Libyan side, Ahmed Hamza, chairman of the National Human Rights Committee in Libya, a local rights group, said 150 migrants were transferred by Libyan boarder guards to shelters in the capital, Tripoli.

From Washington Times • Aug. 10, 2023

The group also had agreed to pay for Luke to go to a private school as a boarder, year-round.

From "Among the Hidden" by Margaret Peterson Haddix