warehouse
Americannoun
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a building, or a part of one, for the storage of goods, merchandise, etc.
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British. a large retail store.
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a building, or a part of one, in which wholesalers keep large stocks of merchandise, which they display and sell to retailers.
verb (used with object)
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to place, deposit, or store in a warehouse.
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to set aside or accumulate, as for future use.
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to place in a government or bonded warehouse, to be kept until duties are paid.
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Informal. to confine (the mentally ill) to large institutions for long-term custodial care.
noun
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a place where goods are stored prior to their use, distribution, or sale
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See bonded warehouse
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a large commercial, esp wholesale, establishment
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has warehousedperfect 3rd person singular
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are warehousingprogressive
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have warehousedperfect
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have been warehousingperfect progressive
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is warehousingprogressive 3rd person singular
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warehousingparticiple
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am warehousingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been warehousingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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warehousessingular 3rd person
Past
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had warehousedperfect
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were warehousingprogressive plural
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warehousedparticiple
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was warehousingprogressive singular
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had been warehousingperfect progressive
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warehousedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of warehouse
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at ware 1, house
Explanation
A warehouse is a place where a company stores things they are going to sell. If you order a book online, it is almost certainly shipped from a warehouse to your house. When a business has to store a lot of items, they often use a warehouse, or a large building, to keep them safe and organized until they're sold or made into a finished product. You can use the word warehouse as a verb, too: "I need to warehouse all these roller skates, because they're not selling as fast as I'd hoped." Warehouse combines ware, or "manufactured goods," and house. In other words, it's a place to house your wares.
Vocabulary lists containing warehouse
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 15
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 28–October 5, 2024
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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.
Today's commercial humanoid robots can barely handle warehouse packing let alone open a door, says Fankhauser.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
It turns out, though, that it looks like a warehouse of space junk, and it sounds like an industrial-strength air-conditioning system.
From Salon • Jun. 8, 2026
At a Frito-Lay warehouse in Phoenix, workers load Cheetos and Doritos onto Gatik trucks daily, bound for dozens of locations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Joel Galvez, right, heads to his warehouse with an assistant to collect dresses for delivery.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2026
It’s one of those places that looks like a nightclub shoved into a warehouse, with oddly geometric light fixtures and a menu that changes every day.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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.
