terraced

IPA/ˈterəst/
KK[tˈɛrəst]IPA/ˈterəst/

terraced — adjective

  • terracedpositive
  • more terracedcomparative
  • most terracedsuperlative

1. describing houses or streets where each home is joined to the ones beside it in

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing houses or streets where each home is joined to the ones beside it in a single row

Example

Yara grew up in a narrow terraced house near the train station.

collocation: terraced house

Rows of terraced homes climbed the hill behind the old market.

Common collocations
  • terraced house
  • terraced street
  • terraced cottage
  • terraced homes
Synonyms
  • attached

    broader; two homes can be attached without forming a long row

  • row-house

    used mainly in North American English and usually as a noun

Antonyms
  • detached

    describes a house that does not share side walls with another home

Usage Note

Most common with house, home, street, or cottage in British English. Distinguish from sense 2, which describes land cut into step-like levels.

2. describing land that has been shaped into flat levels like steps along a slope

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing land that has been shaped into flat levels like steps along a slope

Example

Morning light fell across the terraced rice fields above the village.

collocation: terraced rice fields

From the bus, Jude photographed the terraced slopes after the rain.

Common collocations
  • terraced fields
  • terraced hillside
  • terraced slopes
  • terraced farmland
Synonyms
  • stepped

    focuses on the visible stair-like shape, without the farming idea

  • tiered

    broader; can describe seats or shelves as well as land

Antonyms
  • flat

    describes land without step-like levels cut into the slope

Usage Note

Usually modifies land, hillsides, fields, or vineyards rather than buildings. In farming contexts, it often suggests water control or reduced soil loss.

terraced — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

These housing words all describe how homes connect to each other. Terraced refers to a row of houses that share side walls with neighbors on both sides. Attached is broader and can describe any home joined to another building, even if there are only two. Semi-detached means one house is joined to just one neighboring house, so each building has two homes. Detached means the house stands alone. Row-house is a mainly North American noun for one home in a similar line. If you say a family lives in a terraced house, you are stressing the continuous row, not just the fact that one wall is shared.

terraced ↗attached ↗semi-detacheddetached ↗row-house

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Terraced comes from terrace plus the ending -ed. Terrace reached English through French from a Latin root meaning earth or land. The oldest idea was a raised earthen platform. English later used terrace for outdoor platforms, rows of joined houses, and step-like levels cut into hillsides. From that base, terraced developed as an adjective for joined houses or stepped land, and as the past form of the verb meaning to add a terrace or cut land into terraces.

First known use

1515

1515, in the meaning defined at sense 1b Verb