porch
Americannoun
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an exterior appendage to a building, forming a covered approach or vestibule to a doorway.
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a veranda.
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the Porch, the portico or stoa in the agora of ancient Athens, where the Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium and his followers met.
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Obsolete. a portico.
noun
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a low structure projecting from the doorway of a house and forming a covered entrance
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an exterior roofed gallery, often partly enclosed; veranda
Other Word Forms
- porchless adjective
- porchlike adjective
- underporch noun
Etymology
Origin of porch
1250–1300; Middle English porche < Old French < Latin porticus porch, portico
Vocabulary lists containing porch
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.
Set against the distant Blue Ridge Mountains, it depicts a favorite Southern activity—akin to her widely admired maple-sugaring paintings set up north—embellished with details like the tiny rocking horse on her front porch.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
A covered porch houses a sizable grill for outdoor meal preparation.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026
After Heuermann was jailed, his wife and two children stayed in the house, even grilling on the front porch despite gawkers on the front lawn.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
It was hard to keep the pollen out of the porch, and even harder to keep people in.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026
By the time he’d straightened up again, Chip had joined him on the porch, either because he was curious about the letter too, or because he really did have a crush on Katherine.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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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.