quarters
Britishplural noun
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housing or accommodation, esp as provided for military personnel and their families
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the stations assigned to military personnel, esp to each crew member of a warship
general quarters
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(in India) housing provided by an employer or by the government
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slang (functioning as singular) military short for quartermaster
Explanation
A place for people to live, especially if they're in the military, can be called quarters. If you join the Army, your quarters might be a dorm-like space that you share with many other people. You can use this word to mean "housing" generally, although it's most common for soldiers and servants to live in quarters. A wealthy family with maids and a butler who live in their house might set aside servants' quarters on the top floor, for example. During the period of slavery in the US, slaves also lived in quarters. If you and your brother live in "close quarters," it means the two of you share a fairly small room.
Vocabulary lists containing quarters
I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
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The Lion of Mars
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Three Keys
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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.
Investors should compare operating cash flow, capital spending and financing commitments over several quarters, allowing for the timing of construction and equipment purchases.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Still, analyst Simon Fitzgerald thinks Netwealth should print record net inflows for the next three quarters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Anthropic's revenue has risen in successive quarters this year, from $4.7bn in the first three months to $11.6bn the following period.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Anthropic also reportedly said that it’s been profitable on an adjusted basis for the past two quarters, and cash-flow positive for the past quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Max looked back: Nurse Beverly had gotten out of the car as well, but was heading off into the darkness, back toward the servants’ quarters.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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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.
