latrine
Americannoun
-
latrines
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of latrine
1635–45; < French < Latin lātrīna, short for lavātrīna place for washing, derivative of lavāre to wash
Vocabulary lists containing latrine
"Be Prepared" by Vera Brosgol
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Novel Study: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Prologue–Chapter 8
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 2
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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:
As Ruthye, Ridley’s crisp British elocution is the cleanest thing in the movie, which is shot by Rob Hardy in shades of mustard smog and latrine brown.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
A woman who was taking a toilet break while on a road trip in the Australian outback ended up getting stuck waist-deep in a pit latrine after it collapsed.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Researchers collected 50 sediment samples from along the drain, which stretched roughly nine meters and carried waste from a communal latrine into a stream north of the fort.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025
There was no water, and the stench of the latrine was unbearable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2025
By midnight she couldn’t wait any longer and, with three of her daughters who were feeling distressed too, stumbled out into the darkness of the desert in the direction of the block latrine.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
His job hauling buckets of sewage from the latrines was no fun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Buckets, placed in holds as latrines, were soon overflowing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Pit latrines have also led to fatal accidents in other places.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
“Those who washed the latrines have gone,” Kai said.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
Mother was sent to work in a munitions factory while I cleaned latrines at the railroad station.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
