hovel
Americannoun
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a small, very humble dwelling house; a wretched hut.
-
any dirty, disorganized dwelling.
-
an open shed, as for sheltering cattle or tools.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a ramshackle dwelling place
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an open shed for livestock, carts, etc
-
the conical building enclosing a kiln
verb
Etymology
Origin of hovel
1375–1425; late Middle English hovell, of uncertain origin
Explanation
A hovel is a small shed or dwelling, often messy, cramped, and crudely built, such as a shelter in a refugee camp — or possibly your apartment if you have too much stuff and not enough time to clean. The word hovel was used in the fifteenth century to describe a shed used for animals, and by the seventeenth century the word had taken on its current usage as a way to describe a crude human dwelling — though the connotation of a messiness associated with animals still remains. The word can be used literally to describe something that is a ramshackle shack, but you’ll also hear it used with wry humor to describe a person’s modest living quarters: “Well, I’m off to my hovel to get some sleep.”
Vocabulary lists containing hovel
100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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The Princess Bride
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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.
Eventually they squeezed into a hovel before being discovered by a turncoat cabinet member.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2024
"I was left in this crowded backstreet hovel in Halifax, while my sister went off to a rather grand life."
From BBC • May 14, 2022
Miranda, who saw “Rent” at 17, is palpably thrilled to gain access to his hero’s hovel on Greenwich Street, here recreated with exactitude — right down to the Scorpions cassette.
From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2021
“I wanted a hovel, a hut,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 30, 2021
Mrs. Myles was a widow who lived alone in a tiny hovel in Redding.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Definitions 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.
