Synonyms

boardinghouse

American

[bawr-ding-hous, bohr-] / ˈbɔr dɪŋˌhaʊs, ˈboʊr- /

Or boarding house

noun

plural

boardinghouses

a house at which board or board and lodging may be obtained for payment.

Etymology

Origin of boardinghouse

First recorded in 1720–30

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.

Jones, who was so brilliant in Daniel’s production of “King Hedley II” at A Noise Within is just as luminous here as the calming force at the boardinghouse.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2025

Another is Marie-Christine Lippman, whose family foundation runs a boardinghouse on land owned by Sothea’s family.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 2025

Based on the 1979 novel of the same name by William Styron, this Academy Award-nominated film follows the increasingly intersected lives of three residents in a Brooklyn boardinghouse in 1947.

From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2023

All five of them shared a single room in a Ballard boardinghouse next to the restaurant where her father worked.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 6, 2023

Chasing after the president, Mary Todd Lincoln, followed by Clara Harris and Major Rathbone, with Laura Keene trailing close behind, burst into the boardinghouse.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023