brownstone

[ broun-stohn ]

/ ˈbraʊnˌstoʊn /

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noun

a reddish-brown sandstone, used extensively as a building material.

Also called brownstone front . a building, especially a row house, fronted with this stone.

adjective

Archaic. belonging or pertaining to the well-to-do class.

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Origin of brownstone

First recorded in 1830–40; brown + stone

Words nearby brownstone

brown soils, Brownson, brown spot, brown-state, brown stem rot, brownstone, brownstoner, brown study, brown study, in a, brown sugar, Brownsville

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use brownstone in a sentence

The elegant brownstone stoops so beloved of contemporary city-dwellers allowed homeowners to “rise above a sea of manure.”
Did Cars Rescue Our Cities From Horses? - Issue 108: Change|Brandon Keim|November 10, 2021|Nautilus
While they would later be viewed as authentic, contemporaries dismissed brownstones as modern and artificial.
In defense of the “gentrification building”|Jerusalem Demsas|September 10, 2021|Vox
Ronald Grullon, who was ultimately sentenced to probation on drug charges, had scaled the 9-foot gate outside a Manhattan brownstone as he ran from police.
Still Can’t Breathe|by Topher Sanders, ProPublica, and Yoav Gonen, THE CITY, video by Lucas Waldron, ProPublica|January 21, 2021|ProPublica
A professor from City College, a member of a small arts society called the Vanishing Literary Club, gives Etta a room in his brownstone on West 89th Street.
Adrienne Kennedy’s new play, ‘Etta and Ella on the Upper West Side,’ is utterly unique|Peter Marks|January 14, 2021|Washington Post

Martin Amis asks as he greets me in the invitingly elegant hallway of his Brooklyn brownstone.
Martin Amis Talks About Nazis, Novels, and Cute Babies|Ronald K. Fried|October 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
My Parents bought their first home in 1968, a Brownstone in Fort Greene, where my Father still lives.
Spike Lee Blasts The New York Times’ Story on Brooklyn Gentrification in Fiery Op-Ed|Marlow Stern|March 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We went to another house, a brownstone not too far from where I lived.
Maya Angelou: How I Write|Noah Charney|April 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
She then told another story about the same boyfriend—a guy living in a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Lena Dunham’s Improv Night at the Upright Citizens Brigade|Marlow Stern|March 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Five months ago, Mercado was visiting a friend and left her chair outside a brownstone apartment.
Wheelchair-bound Blogger Warms Fashion Week Hearts|Corbin Chamberlin|February 7, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Mr. Dennis' brownstone front was one of the fine old houses on West 23rd street that are fast making way for stores.
Still Jim|Honor Willsie Morrow
But try as he would, Jim could say nothing until they reached the old brownstone front.
Still Jim|Honor Willsie Morrow
This was the first home that Jim had had since he had left the brownstone front and he was very proud of it.
Still Jim|Honor Willsie Morrow
I crossed the pavement with her to the loutish brownstone front-stoop of the boarding house; there she turned to dismiss me.
The Book of Susan|Lee Wilson Dodd
The unpretentious, brownstone-fronted home of Deputy Copeland was visited, late that night, by a woman.
The Shadow|Arthur Stringer

British Dictionary definitions for brownstone

brownstone

/ (ˈbraʊnˌstəʊn) /

noun US

a reddish-brown iron-rich sandstone used for building

a house built of or faced with this stone

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