Barrack Meaning
/ˈbæɹ.ək/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA building for soldiers, especially within a garrison; originally referred to temporary huts, now usually to a permanent structure or set of buildings.
nounA primitive structure resembling a long shed or barn for (usually temporary) housing or other purposes.
Sentence Examples
The soldiers lived in a barrack.
The barrack was old and run-down.
The soldiers returned to their barrack after a long day of training.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new recruits were ordered to clean the entire ____ before inspection tomorrow morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The soldiers returned to the ____ after a long day of hard training city.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French baraque, from Spanish barraca or Catalan barraca, which is of uncertain origin. It is probably either a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *barra (“bar”), of unclear origin, or a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *barrum (“clay, mud”) from Celtiberian or Paleo-Hispanic.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Before the gates of Bari, he lodged in a miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches, and thatched with straw; a perilous station, on all sides open to the inclemency of the winter and the spears of the enemy."
— 1829, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 4, page 67:
"I know the barracks at the training camp out on the moors."
— 1996, Erich Maria Remarque, translated by Brian Murdoch, All Quiet on the Western Front, page 129:
"Where the men were barracked alone, unnatural crime prevailed : where the women were barracked, contrivances were made to render such a place a brothel."
— 1825, Richard Carlile, The Republican, volume 11, page 276:
"I knew that he had been barracked at times, but I did not realise that he was so sensitive."
— 1934, Herbert Chapman, Herbert Chapman on Football, page 140:
"Some people stopped concentrating on the piece altogether, some started barracking and heckling, while others began chatting to one another."
— 2006, Ramsay Burt, Judson Dance Theater: Performative traces, page 192:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new recruits were ordered to clean the entire ____ before inspection tomorrow morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The soldiers returned to the ____ after a long day of hard training city.