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.
That means the Treasury can’t keep guiding for no change in issuance for ‘next several quarters’ as that implies stability for at least two to four quarters ahead.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
Atlanta, central New Jersey and San Diego were among the markets where occupancy rose, reversing previous quarters’ losses.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025
Investors will also look to next quarters’ corporate earnings to gauge how executives are interpreting a potential economic downtown.
From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2022
Thummel previously owned Chesapeake, but said he would need to see "several quarters' worth of discipline and a clear path for returning capital to shareholders" before buying it again.
From Reuters • Aug. 4, 2021
In the centre were the barracks with the officers’ quarters’ on one side, the stables on the other, and a barn for the stowage of hay and other stores.
From With Axe and Rifle by Meyer, H.
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.
