palapa
Americannoun
-
palapas
plural
-
a simple, thatched-roof dwelling, usually open on the sides.
-
any building resembling this, especially in a resort area, as a restaurant, beachhouse, or the like.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of palapa
Perhaps < Mexican Spanish: a kind of palm tree
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:
There is also a custom barbecue palapa with views of the surrounding mountains.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
“When I started studying this, I didn’t know that tuba was a Filipino word, or that palapa was a Filipino word, and few others knew it,” Machuca says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
After dinner, we headed to the base camp where the Jaguar Alliance undertakes its research, a cluster of palapa huts around a small lake within the reserve.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
And we didn't have the budget to make a real palapa, so we put petates, which are the mats, the floor mats.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2019
Options include treatments beneath a curtain-draped palapa on the beach or within multiple spas.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2019
Five-star luxury beachfront resort with multiple pools, on-site spa, tennis courts, beachside palapas and tropical gardens.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2022
“We were living on the beach under palapas and just this really beautiful setting, and we wanted to see if we could make the equipment with good carpenters,” Carter said during a recent videoconferencing chat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2021
Driftwood palapas line the main beach, and there’s a hillside spa, where treatments like hot-stone massage are done in an open-air pavilion.
From Time ● Sep. 25, 2017
The cluster of smart-looking oceanfront palapas, complete with Daliesque cactus gardens, private saltwater plunge pools and iPod docks are a far cry from the area’s typical ramshackle guest cottages.
From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2013
Summit Surf is a legitimate Southern California-style surf shop, the likes of which have never been seen before in these here parts, complete with palapas and boards decking the ceilings.
From Time Magazine Archive
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
