terrace

The definition of a terrace is a patio, balcony or other outdoor living area.

(noun)

An example of a terrace is a paved sitting area which is next to an apartment's back door.

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See terrace in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

    1. a raised, flat mound of earth with sloping sides
    2. any of a series of flat platforms of earth with sloping sides, rising one above the other, as on a hillside
    3. a geologic formation of this nature
  1. an unroofed, paved area, immediately adjacent to a house, etc. and usually overlooking a lawn or garden
    1. a gallery, portico, or colonnade
    2. a usually spacious veranda; piazza
  2. a small, usually roofed balcony, as outside an apartment
  3. a flat roof, esp. of a house of Spanish or Middle Eastern architecture
    1. a line of houses, esp. of row houses, on ground raised from the street
    2. a street in front of such houses: often used in street names
  4. ☆ a parklike strip in the middle of a boulevard, etc.

Origin: OFr, walled platform, orig., mound of earth < It terrazzo < terra < L, terra

transitive verb terraced, terracing

to form into, lay out in, or surround with a terrace or terraces

See terrace in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. a. A porch or walkway bordered by colonnades.
    b. A platform extending outdoors from a floor of a house or apartment building.
  2. An open, often paved area adjacent to a house serving as an outdoor living space; a patio.
  3. A raised bank of earth having vertical or sloping sides and a flat top: turning a hillside into a series of ascending terraces for farming.
  4. A flat, narrow stretch of ground, often having a steep slope facing a river, lake, or sea.
  5. a. A row of buildings erected on raised ground or on a sloping site.
    b. A section of row houses.
    c. Abbr. Ter. or Terr. A residential street, especially on a slope or hill.
  6. A narrow strip of landscaped earth in the middle of a street.
  7. Chiefly Upper Northern & Midwestern U.S. See parking. See Regional Note at parking.
transitive verb ter·raced, ter·rac·ing, ter·rac·es
  1. To provide (a house, for example) with a terrace or terraces.
  2. To form (a hillside or sloping lawn, for example) into terraces.

Origin:

Origin: French

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Old Provençal terrassa

Origin: , from Vulgar Latin *terrācea

Origin: , feminine of *terrāceus, earthen

Origin: , from Latin terra, earth; see ters- in Indo-European roots

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