cabana
Americannoun
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a small cabin or tentlike structure for use as a bathhouse, especially on a beach or by a swimming pool.
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a cabin or cottage.
noun
Etymology
Origin of cabana
1830–40; < Spanish cabaña; cabin
Explanation
A cabana is a small, sometimes portable changing room near a swimming pool or beach. You may put your bikini on in a cabana before diving into the cold ocean water. A traditional cabana is a tent that can be moved from one spot to another on the beach. It's a mobile dressing room, where swimmers can dry off and put their clothes on. You can use the word cabana to describe any poolside changing room or building — it comes from the Spanish cabaña, with its Late Latin root capana, "hut" or "cabin."
Vocabulary lists containing cabana
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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.
A security guard stood in front of the cabana to stop any would-be squatters.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
Oregon chiropractor Joshua Wolfram paid $950 for a cabana for his extended family of nine on the family beach.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
Outside, cantilevered decks and platforms overlook a lap pool, spa, sauna and cabana shrouded in eucalyptus, sycamore, oak and bamboo.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026
The expansive dwelling comes with eight bedrooms, several bathrooms, a resort-style pool, a cabana, a terrace with sweeping views of the hills, and a separate guesthouse.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 1, 2025
Scythe Goddard was in a cabana beyond the deep end, its front open to the festivities before him.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
