terrace
Americannoun
-
terraces
plural
-
a raised level with a vertical or sloping front or sides faced with masonry, turf, or the like, especially one of a series of levels rising one above another.
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the top of such a construction, used as a platform, garden, road, etc.
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a nearly level strip of land with a more or less abrupt descent along the margin of the sea, a lake, or a river.
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the flat roof of a house.
-
an open, often paved area connected to a house or an apartment house and serving as an outdoor living area; deck.
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an open platform, as projecting from the outside wall of an apartment; a large balcony.
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a row of houses on or near the top of a slope.
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a residential street following the top of a slope.
verb (used with or without object)
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terraces,
present (3rd person singular)
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terraced,
past participle, past
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terracing
present participle
noun
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a horizontal flat area of ground, often one of a series in a slope
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-
a row of houses, usually identical and having common dividing walls, or the street onto which they face
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( cap when part of a street name )
Grosvenor Terrace
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-
a paved area alongside a building, serving partly as a garden
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a balcony or patio
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the flat roof of a house built in a Spanish or Oriental style
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a flat area bounded by a short steep slope formed by the down-cutting of a river or by erosion
-
(usually plural)
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unroofed tiers around a football pitch on which the spectators stand
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the spectators themselves
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
terracesimple
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terracessimple
-
have terracedperfect
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has terracedperfect
-
am terracingprogressive
-
are terracingprogressive
-
is terracingprogressive
-
have been terracingperfect progressive
-
has been terracingperfect progressive
Past
-
terracedsimple
-
had terracedperfect
-
was terracingprogressive
-
were terracingprogressive
-
had been terracingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of terrace
1505–15; earlier terrasse < Middle French < Old Provençal terrassa < Vulgar Latin *terrācea, feminine of *terrāceus. See terra, -aceous
Explanation
A terrace is a paved or brick outdoor area right next to a house or apartment. You might have a nice dinner out on your terrace, enjoying the sunset. Terrace and patio are synonyms. Another meaning for terrace is "a block of row houses that are connected by shared walls and are built in a similar style." Terrace also refers to flat areas on a hillside where people farm or have built houses. That land has been terraced, meaning "made into shelves."
Vocabulary lists containing terrace
Learning Down The House: Parts of Your Home
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Elements of the Universe: Terr, Terra ("Earth")
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South America - Middle 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.
See Examples For:
The atmosphere resembled a football terrace, with a drummer and trumpeter accompanying fans singing Sheffield Wednesday songs.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
Retractable glass doors connect the interior to an outdoor terrace, allowing the living spaces to open directly onto the scenic surroundings.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
Perched on a pavement terrace with a colleague, a 38-year-old art teacher who gave her name as Alma said she had "never seen anything like it".
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026
Philbin oversaw a two-decade,$90-million renovation by Michael Maltzan Architecture that increased gallery space by 60% and added an outdoor sculpture terrace.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
“Come down to the terrace while I eat my breakfast,” he said.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
“Formal entertaining spaces include a gracious Living Room, dining room, private study, chef’s kitchen with butler’s pantry, family room, and expansive outdoor terraces, while discreet service quarters ensure effortless day-to-day living,” reads the listing.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
This is the view from downstream, looking up at the house and its welter of projecting terraces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Its essence was its array of cantilevered terraces, set at right angles to one another and projecting deep out into space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
For generations, summer in Europe has been languid and dreamy, bringing fine weather and lengthy days on sunny beaches and terraces.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Today three-quarters of the terraces are abandoned, and the alpine landscape has not regained the productivity it had a thousand years ago.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The house itself serves as a time capsule of Old Hollywood glitz and glamour, with sprawling gardens and terraced lawns perched on 8.4 acres overlooking the Bel-Air Country Club.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
As we climbed the terraced pools of the West Kill, I concentrated on keeping my cast short and precise until I caught my first brook trout, or “brookie.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Oren Brown, 27, usually works in a dedicated office room but says his terraced house in County Durham is "horribly stifling upstairs".
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Filled with eccentric decorative touches that mirrored Simmons’ vibrant public persona, the property features everything from staircase cherubs and boldly patterned wallpaper to curved French doors, terraced gardens, and a key-shaped swimming pool.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
Number 33 was a tall house, spindly-thin, in the middle of a terraced row.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
Much of the railroad-tie terracing had been damaged as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024
The official capacity was just more than 31,000, although three-quarters of the ground was terracing.
From BBC ● May 23, 2024
In addition to constructing dams and irrigation systems, the people of this region collected water from flash floods and used terracing in hilly regions.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
In 2011, they began a fresh exploration of the city’s northeastern edge, a kind of premature suburban sprawl originally dedicated to agricultural terracing that had been converted for funerary and artisanal purposes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2023
Given Cahokia’s engineering expertise, though, solutions were within reach: terracing hillsides, diking rivers, even moving Cahokia.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
