courtyard

noun

court·​yard ˈkȯrt-ˌyärd How to pronounce courtyard (audio)
: a court or enclosure adjacent to a building (such as a house or palace)

Examples of courtyard in a Sentence

The apartment overlooks a courtyard. a series of lunchtime concerts in the museum's open-air courtyard
Recent Examples on the Web Photo : Phil Mansfield View from a circular cutout in the concrete wall of the sunken courtyard. Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 29 Feb. 2024 Casa started in the fall of 2011 in a 700 square-foot room in a restaurant’s courtyard at 21st and J streets with an enrollment of 25 students. Cathie Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 29 Feb. 2024 Earlier at the hospital, relatives wept over bodies laid out in burial shrouds in the courtyard, and a man cradled a dead infant. Wafaa Shurafa and Bassem Mroue The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 24 Feb. 2024 The sumptuous, all-glass lounge looks onto the immaculate central courtyard garden, where stone lanterns and other artifacts from the days when the Mitsui family lived there decorate the mossy landscape. Elizabeth Brownfield, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 Such an accomplishment would create rejoicing across town, where, among the few residents, eight people from three families remain living in a basement shelter since the first Russian shell on Lyman landed in their courtyard, in May 2022. Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Feb. 2024 All rooms have doors that open onto garden or patio views, while a central courtyard pool is the perfect place to take a break from the notorious Mérida heat. Meagan Drillinger, Travel + Leisure, 20 Feb. 2024 Three fuzzy Chinese lions, each containing two performers, leaped and swayed to a loud drum beat in the outdoor courtyard. Beth Lipoff, Kansas City Star, 16 Feb. 2024 See the 'extraordinary' find Outside, the entrance to the tomb sits in a courtyard and faces the rising sun, according to a 2019 study by Susanne Brinkmann and Christina Verbeek published by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 14 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'courtyard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1552, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of courtyard was in 1552

Dictionary Entries Near courtyard

Cite this Entry

“Courtyard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/courtyard. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

courtyard

noun
court·​yard -ˌyärd How to pronounce courtyard (audio)
: a court or enclosure next to a building

More from Merriam-Webster on courtyard

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