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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

One 11,000-hectare area along the Red River -- roughly the size of Paris -- is slated to become a warren of high-end residential complexes and parks, with roughly 250,000 residents relocated.

From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026

“In short order the warren of oddly shaped rooms in the carriage house became spaces for lectures, workshops, and impromptu performances,” Mr. Gennari writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

Nearly all of the film takes place in his compound, a circular warren that looks like a combination of an ancient temple and the Superdome.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025

Three or four can travel quickly and aren’t conspicuous: and the Chief Rabbit of this warren would be less likely to object to a few strangers coming with a civil request.”

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Warren remains convinced that Itauma is one of the most exceptional talents he has encountered, pointing towards two-time world champion Dubois as a prime example of a heavyweight who rebuilt successfully after painful setbacks.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

As far back as his time in Atlanta, Snead had devoured books about Warren Buffett—usually on tape as he drove from school to school all over the South.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

While positive, an agreement between Oman and Iran wouldn’t result in oil flows through the strait returning to prewar levels, ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

“With positioning and seasonality less supportive, the market now faces a concentrated run of macro catalysts. Rates are the near-term risk,” wrote Warren Pies, founder of 3Fourteen Research, in commentary shared with MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Only her brother, Warren, seemed to understand the hidden layer she saw in things, but then they had always had an understanding, since before he had been born.

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

The tops of hills are shaved off to make level warrens for the rabbits of the present.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck