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• warren
  warren

  noun

  a place where rabbits breed or abound.
• Warren
  Warren

  noun

  Earl, 1891–1974, U.S. lawyer and political leader: chief justice of the U.S. 1953–69.

warren

¹ American  

[wawr-uhn, wor-] / ˈwɔr ən, ˈwɒr- /

noun

• warrens
  plural

1. a place where rabbits breed or abound.

2. a building or area containing many tenants in limited or crowded quarters.

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Warren ² American  

[wawr-uhn, wor-] / ˈwɔr ən, ˈwɒr- /

noun

1. Earl, 1891–1974, U.S. lawyer and political leader: chief justice of the U.S. 1953–69.

2. Joseph, 1741–75, American physician, statesman, and patriot.

3. Mercy Otis, 1728–1814, U.S. historian and poet (sister of James Otis).

4. Robert Penn, 1905–89, U.S. novelist and poet: named the first U.S. poet laureate (1986–87).

5. a city in SE Michigan, near Detroit.

6. a city in NE Ohio, NW of Youngstown.

7. a city in NW Pennsylvania.

8. a town in E Rhode Island.

9. a male given name: from a Germanic word meaning “protection.”

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warren ¹ British  

/ ˈwɒrən /

noun

1. a series of interconnected underground tunnels in which rabbits live

2. a colony of rabbits

3. an overcrowded area or dwelling

4. 1. an enclosed place where small game animals or birds are kept, esp for breeding, or a part of a river or lake enclosed by nets in which fish are kept (esp in the phrase beasts or fowls of warren )

   2. English legal history a franchise permitting one to keep animals, birds, or fish in this way

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Warren ² British  

/ ˈwɒrən /

noun

1. a city in the US, in SE Michigan, northeast of Detroit. Pop: 136 016 (2003 est)

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Warren ³ British  

/ ˈwɒrən /

noun

1. Earl. 1891–1974, US lawyer; chief justice of the US (1953–69). He chaired the commission that investigated the murder of President Kennedy

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• warrens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of warren

1350–1400; Middle English warenne < Anglo-French; Old French g ( u ) arenne < Germanic *warinne game park, equivalent to *war- (base of *warjan to defend) + *-inne feminine noun suffix

Explanation

When Bugs Bunny outruns Elmer Fudd and vanishes down his rabbit hole, he's escaping into a warren — a network of underground tunnels where rabbits live. A warren isn't just the maze-like tunnels where rabbits live. You may encounter a warren of subway tunnels or a warren of interconnected bomb shelters. Bring those narrow paths above ground and cluster them with homes and you have another kind of warren, or a maze-like residential area.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

warren Warren warrens

The Backrooms began with a single unsettling image posted anonymously online: a claustrophobic warren of tawdrily yellow, windowless rooms with aged carpets and harsh overhead fluorescent lights.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

The work depicts a group of characters who find themselves trapped in a warren of bizarrely laid-out rooms resembling empty offices, illuminated by a pallid yellow light.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

The lot, however, is a congested warren of stages, offices, trailers and support facilities such as woodworking mills that date to the early 20th century.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026

Bari Vecchia—or “old” Bari—is a dizzying but inviting warren of white-stone alleyways and sunny piazzas that make up the historic heart of the city.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025

She seemed more robust and less timid than Boxwood and Haystack and was evidently doing her best to adapt herself to warren life.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

On the other hand, the fact that Warren is so annoying reminds us that unreal people can elicit genuine repulsion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

“This settles the fact that we were never out to get De Niro,” town board member Warren Wiegland told the outlet in 2014.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

“The key is whether this ignites further rounds of strikes from both sides, and whether it leaves shippers hesitant to navigate the Strait of Hormuz,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Warren also said that Bilt’s practice of immediately debiting rent payments may have run afoul of the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act’s disclosure requirements for credit cards.

From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2026

She wanted to be swallowed up by the house where she and Warren had grown up and played and argued and planned, where he no longer waited for her, which he would never enter again.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Psychologically, they counter the angst triggered by cramped, airless, maze-like commuter warrens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

The only other mammal thought to maintain stable, mixed-sex, multi-adult groups with several exclusive pair bonds is the Patagonian mara, a large rabbit-like rodent that lives in communal warrens made up of long-term couples.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2026

Not far from the Canton Fair, there are warrens of workshops in Guangdong making clothes, shoes and bags.

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2025

They have been burrowing warrens underground across the park’s peninsula, including near the flare station, heightening concerns about potential gas leaks and spills of contaminated liquids.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2024

I’m sure there can’t be many warrens where all the rabbits can meet together underground.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams