cabana
Americannoun
-
cabanas
plural
-
a small cabin or tentlike structure for use as a bathhouse, especially on a beach or by a swimming pool.
-
a cabin or cottage.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cabana
1830–40; < Spanish cabaña; see cabin
Explanation
A cabana is a small, sometimes portable changing room near a swimming pool or beach. You may put your swim suit on in a cabana before diving into the cold ocean water. A traditional cabana is a tent that can be moved from one spot to another on the beach. It's a mobile dressing room, where swimmers can dry off and put their clothes on. You can use the word cabana to describe any poolside changing room or building — it comes from the Spanish cabaña, with its Late Latin root capana, "hut" or "cabin."
Vocabulary lists containing cabana
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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.
See Examples For:
“This is so fun,” April Zhang-Autio, who often attends art happenings around the city, said while wandering from a cabana area to a merch booth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Food and drink - both with a tropical theme - is delivered directly to your cabana by one of the 50 staff who work at the venue, which can hold up to 500 people.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Oregon chiropractor Joshua Wolfram paid $950 for a cabana for his extended family of nine on the family beach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Outside, cantilevered decks and platforms overlook a lap pool, spa, sauna and cabana shrouded in eucalyptus, sycamore, oak and bamboo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2026
He borrowed brief snippets of sleep in the cabana, always awakened by music, or raucous laughter, or fireworks.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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He eventually settled on a neighborhood in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. Featuring two resort-style pools with cabanas, and pickleball courts, the neighborhood seemed ideal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Economic headwinds have reduced tourism to Las Vegas after a postpandemic boom, with consumers now bristling over higher starting bids at table games and increased prices for beverages and poolside cabanas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
A row over the acceptable use of cabanas has dominated social media, spawned a wave of opinion pieces and television segments, and even dragged in the prime minister.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
I was at the Beverly Hills Hotel, on one of the pool cabanas.
From Salon ● May 18, 2024
Rustic thatched-roof cabanas were built on Rest Beach.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.