portico
Americannoun
noun
-
a covered entrance to a building; porch
-
a covered walkway in the form of a roof supported by columns or pillars, esp one built on to the exterior of a building
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of portico
1595–1605; < Italian < Latin porticus porch, portico. See port 4
Explanation
If your host suggests that you take your iced tea out to the portico, you can follow him onto the porch. A portico is a front porch with columns. If you've ever seen pictures of the United States Capitol building or the Pantheon in Rome, you've seen a portico. While a porch that is held up with grand columns is a portico, a longer covered area or walkway with columns is called a colonnade. The root of portico, is simply the Latin word for "porch," porticus.
Vocabulary lists containing portico
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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The Lightning Thief
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Ancient Greece - Middle School and High School
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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.
This includes an extensive £912,000 program to repair structural defects to Kensington Palace, including to strengthen load-bearing portico columns.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
Bulletproof glass encasing the portico for his annual appearance with the Easter Bunny?
From Slate • Apr. 28, 2026
Trump finally appeared on the portico of the Blue Room after 7 p.m. on Wednesday to welcome new interns to what the White House described as a “soiree” on the South Lawn.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2025
I ran from the White House briefing room, past the portico entrance of the West Wing to our camera position on the lawn, and flung on an ear piece connecting me to the studio.
From BBC • May 5, 2025
Roughly halfway along the front there was a wide row of steps, surmounted by a portico where classical columns supported a pediment….Was that a figure among the columns?
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
