barracks

UK/ˈbæɹəks/US/ˈbæɹəks/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,917 of 15,258leans written

Barracks are the buildings where soldiers live. Rows of beds, a parade ground outside, and everything inspected.

The word looks plural and is treated as either singular or plural, so the barracks is on the edge of town is perfectly correct. Confined to barracks is a punishment meaning not allowed out. The adjective barrack-room describes a rough soldierly style, as in barrack-room lawyer for somebody who argues about rules. British football has a separate verb, since to barrack somebody is to jeer at them.

Definitions of barracks

1nounbarracksA building or group of buildings where soldiers live.B2+
“The regiment moved into new barracks that spring.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Military & Defence

First appears in chapter 14 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

barracks in the wild

The Deal barracks bombing was an attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on the Royal Marine Depot, Deal, England.
Deal barracks bombing
The Glamorgan barracks bombing was the bombing of a British Army military barracks in Duisburg, West Germany, carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Glamorgan barracks bombing
The Glamorgan barracks housed soldiers from the Royal Corps of Transport.
Glamorgan barracks bombing
Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, is a barracks of the British Army which forms part of Woolwich Garrison.
Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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