villa
noun
a country residence or estate.
villa
1 American
[vil-uh]
/ ˈvɪl ə /
noun
-
villas
plural
-
a country residence or estate.
-
any imposing or pretentious residence, especially one in the country or suburbs maintained as a retreat by a wealthy person.
-
British. a detached or semidetached dwelling house, usually suburban.
Villa
2
American
[vee-uh, vee-yah]
/ ˈvi ə, ˈvi jɑ /
noun
villa
1
British
/ ˈvɪlə /
noun
-
(in ancient Rome) a country house, usually consisting of farm buildings and residential quarters around a courtyard
-
a large and usually luxurious country residence
-
a detached or semidetached suburban house
-
a medium-sized suburban house standing in its own grounds
Villa
2
British
/ ˈviːə, ˈbiʎa /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of villa
1605–15; (< Italian ) < Latin vīlla a country house, farm, akin to vīcus village, wick 3
Explanation
If you don't want to sound like a snob, don't describe your family's house in the country as a villa. A villa is a fancy vacation home. Calling your weekend country house a villa will inevitably sound like you're showing off. Still, the word has been around ever since ancient Roman times to mean "country house for the elite." In Italian, villa means "country house or farm." Most villas include a large amount of land and often barns, garages, or other outbuildings as well.
Vocabulary lists containing villa
Ancient Rome - Introductory
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Ancient Rome - Middle School and High School
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The Roman Republic, Lessons 3–4
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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 villa, bookable from around $35,780 a night, is an extension of the 74-room Hotel Maçakizi, a Turkish Riviera fixture since the late 1970s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
The “potential” of this Albanian island, called Sazan, is to become a luxury villa resort, and Trump has embarked upon this real estate project with her husband, Jared Kushner.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
He later outfitted his island escape with a Balinese-style villa and bungalows, creating a private getaway worthy of a Hollywood mogul.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
"With durian, I bought a car, houses for my children and built a villa for my family," he said, his affluence evident around him.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Perhaps she would wear it to a dinner party at the villa of some great lord or count, perhaps to the palace itself.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Brentford are another team to have made an unbeaten start, and while I thought they were a bit lucky to get a draw at Aston Villa last week, they have plenty of momentum.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Fenerbahce visit on Wednesday as Champions League football returns to Villa Park.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
In 2018, he bought a majority stake in the then-struggling English soccer club Aston Villa.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"I think that's what Emery has been talking about with the potential of this team and what they can do," former Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov told TNT.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
It was the Mexican government that betrayed and killed Pancho Villa earlier that year of 1923.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
“We’ve had Palase Green Coast, which turned natural landscape into villas and hotels, which produced nothing but waste and ugliness.”
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Plans for the property have included resort bungalows and private estate villas, as well as environmentally focused features such as solar power.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
As a result, even as new hotels and villas appear inland, much of the beachfront has remained quiet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Its temples and villas, enveloped in thick tropical forest, were as close to a lost city as we would ever be likely to see.
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.
