porch
Americannoun
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an exterior appendage to a building, forming a covered approach or vestibule to a doorway.
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a veranda.
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the Porch, the portico or stoa in the agora of ancient Athens, where the Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium and his followers met.
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Obsolete. a portico.
noun
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a low structure projecting from the doorway of a house and forming a covered entrance
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an exterior roofed gallery, often partly enclosed; veranda
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of porch
1250–1300; Middle English porche < Old French < Latin porticus porch, portico
Vocabulary lists containing porch
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.
Yes, the 1985 Steven Spielberg adventure, early in which Mikey, from his porch, opens the front gate for Chunk using a device that employs a bowling ball, bucket, balloon, chicken, football, and sprinkler.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
He found the damage when he returned home and "luckily it had burned itself out in the porch".
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Her porch was low hanging and served as an open-air storage building.
From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026
Set against the distant Blue Ridge Mountains, it depicts a favorite Southern activity—akin to her widely admired maple-sugaring paintings set up north—embellished with details like the tiny rocking horse on her front porch.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
Aunt Maud was just coming up the back porch.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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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.