1
a
: a usually large building for the storage of farm products or feed and usually for the housing of farm animals or farm equipment
b
: an unusually large and usually bare building
… a great barn of a hotel …—
W. A. White
W. A. White2
: a large building for the housing of a fleet of vehicles (such as trolley cars or trucks)
Examples of barn in a Sentence
They live in a big barn of a house.
Recent Examples on the Web
Here, rather like the Chicago stockyards, thousands of dairy cows are fed in crowded feedlots by a method called intensive and dry-lot feeding, or, alternately, kept indoors in barns.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2026
Here’s my take after years of wearing both pairs for everything from skiing to barn chores during long Montana winters.
—Maggie Slepian, Outside, 13 Feb. 2026
Spying on the stable hand and maid doing it in the barn?
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 12 Feb. 2026
But what will inevitably be first in the conversation is the sequence in which two servants engage in rough role-play in a barn.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for barn
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2026
Here’s my take after years of wearing both pairs for everything from skiing to barn chores during long Montana winters.
—Maggie Slepian, Outside, 13 Feb. 2026
Spying on the stable hand and maid doing it in the barn?
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 12 Feb. 2026
But what will inevitably be first in the conversation is the sequence in which two servants engage in rough role-play in a barn.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for barn
Cite this Entry
“Barn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barn. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
barn
noun
: a building used chiefly for storing grain and hay and for housing farm animals or farm equipment
Medical Definition
barn
noun
: a unit of area equal to 10−24 square centimeters that is used in nuclear physics for measuring cross section
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
