veranda

noun

ve·​ran·​da və-ˈran-də How to pronounce veranda (audio)
variants or verandah
: a usually roofed open gallery or portico attached to the exterior of a building

Examples of veranda in a Sentence

whiling away the afternoon from the inn's wide veranda
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Between the lines: A veranda designed by local artist Adriana Garcia wraps around the building and greets guests upon arrival. Madalyn Mendoza, Axios, 24 Jan. 2025 Guests can idyll on the inn’s wide verandas, meander through the Victorian garden, stroll along Rustico Bay or have a picnic beside its banks. Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025 There’s a pool and a bluestone veranda that overlooks the Hudson River. Clio Chang, Curbed, 10 Jan. 2025 Guest rooms are stately but unfussy, with details like private verandas, soaking tubs, and four-poster beds. Nicholas Derenzo, AFAR Media, 6 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for veranda 

Word History

Etymology

borrowed perhaps via an Indo-Portuguese creole from Portuguese varanda, akin to Spanish baranda "railing" (earlier, "balcony, floor of a building"), Catalan barana "railing," Old Occitan baranda "barrier, barricade," all going back to *varanda "enclosing barrier, the area enclosed," of obscure origin; reinforced by Hindi & Urdu baraṇḍā "roofed gallery," Marathi varãḍ, varãḍā "parapet," in part borrowed from Portuguese varanda and English veranda, in part going back to Sanskrit varaṇḍaka- "mound of earth, rampart separating two fighting elephants," varaṇḍa- "partition wall"

Note: An Anglo-Indian word, most of the early evidence for which is cited in Yule and Burnell's Hobson-Jobson (2nd edition 1903) and the Oxford English Dictionary. The superficial similarity in form and meaning of the Romance and Indo-Aryan words is striking enough that the Romance scholar Joan Coromines attempted to connect them, positing an Indo-European substratal noun as the source of both, to which he added Lithuanian (Žemaitian dialect) varanda "loop plaited from flexible twigs" (Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico). It is questionable, however, if the original meanings of the three etyma are really closely comparable, so that the phonetic likeness may simply be coincidence. The Romance word has been connected with Spanish and Portuguese vara "rod, pole" and other progeny of Latin vāra "forked pole," but, as Coromines points out, the deverbal suffix -anda would require the existence of an otherwise unknown verb *varar; other Romance forms descended from a variant *varandia/varania (see Coromines) make such a hypothesis even less likely.

First Known Use

1711, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of veranda was in 1711

Dictionary Entries Near veranda

Cite this Entry

“Veranda.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veranda. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

veranda

noun
ve·​ran·​da
variants or verandah
: a long open porch usually with a roof

More from Merriam-Webster on veranda

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!