- house
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 building that is made for one family to live inADJECTIVE▪ beautiful, comfortable, elegant, fancy (esp. AmE), fine, grand, handsome, lovely, luxurious, magnificent, posh (esp. BrE), pretty▪ dream▪
They built their own dream house overlooking the river.
▪ dingy, gloomy, ugly▪ derelict, dilapidated, ramshackle, shabby, untidy (BrE)▪ abandoned▪ detached, semi-detached▪ row (AmE), terrace (BrE), terraced (BrE)▪ big, enormous, gigantic, huge, large, palatial, spacious▪ rambling▪It was easy to get lost in the rambling house.
▪ little, modest, small, tiny▪They lived in a modest semi-detached house in the suburbs.
▪ single-storey/single-story, single-storeyed/single-storied, two-storey/two-story, etc.▪ four-bedroom, four-bedroomed, eight-room, eight-roomed, etc.▪ brick, gabled (esp. BrE), half-timbered (esp. BrE), red-brick, thatched▪ expensive▪ private▪ council (BrE)▪ rented▪ empty, unoccupied, vacant▪ country, suburban, town (usually townhouse in AmE)▪ great, manor (BrE), mansion (esp. BrE)▪The great house stood on the edge of the town.
▪ farm (usually farmhouse)▪ ranch (AmE)▪ tract (AmE)▪ ancestral▪ communal, group (AmE), shared (BrE)▪I live in a group/shared house (= with people who are not my family).
▪ summer▪ beach▪ tree▪ halfway, safe▪a halfway house for prisoners returning to society
▪The police provided a safe house for the informer.
▪ hauntedVERB + HOUSE▪ live in, occupy▪a house occupied by students
▪ share▪She shares a house with three other nurses.
▪ buy, rent▪ sell▪ have, own▪ let (esp. BrE), let out (esp. BrE), rent out▪We let out our house when we moved to America.
▪We're only planning on renting the house out for a few years.
▪ repossess (esp. BrE)▪Their house was repossessed when they couldn't keep up their mortgage payments.
▪ move (BrE), move into, move out of▪It's stressful moving house.
▪We had to move out of our house.
▪ set up▪They want to set up house together.
▪ keep▪She kept house (= cooked, cleaned, etc.) for her elderly parents.
▪ play▪The children were playing house, giving dinner to their dolls.
▪ build▪ demolish, knock down, tear down▪ maintain▪ decorate (esp. BrE), do up (BrE), redecorate, refurbish, renovate▪They bought an old house and are gradually renovating it.
▪ furnish▪ clean▪ insulate, rewire▪ add onto, extend▪We're hoping to extend the house.
▪Our challenge was to add onto the house in a respectful way.
▪ search▪Police officers have been searching the house for clues.
▪ wake up▪You'll wake up the whole house (= all the people in the house) with that noise.
HOUSE + VERB▪ be situated, lie, stand▪The house stood a short distance from the woods.
▪ face sth, overlook sth▪The house faces south, making the most of the sun.
▪houses overlooking the park
▪ loom▪The house loomed over him as he waited at the front door.
▪ be worth sth▪ collapse, fall down▪ burn down, catch fire, catch on fire (AmE)▪ come into viewHOUSE + NOUN▪ agent (BrE)▪ buyer, owner▪The bank offers attractive rates to first-time house buyers.
▪ tenant (BrE)▪ building, construction▪ decoration (BrE), improvement (esp. BrE), renovation, repairs▪ builder, painter▪ contents (esp. BrE)▪ design, plan, planning▪ hunting▪ move (esp. BrE)▪They helped us with our house move.
▪ prices, rents (esp. BrE), values (esp. BrE)▪ purchase▪ sales▪ insurance (esp. BrE) (usually home insurance in AmE)▪ front, interior▪ number▪ keys▪ guest▪ call▪In the morning, the doctor makes house calls.
▪ arrest▪The former dictator is under house arrest in his country mansion.
▪ dust▪ blaze (BrE), fire▪ party▪ husband▪He's happy being a house husband while his wife goes out to work.
▪ plant▪ fly, mouse, sparrow, etc.PREPOSITION▪ at sb's/the house▪I finally tracked him down at his house in Denver.
▪ from house to house▪She went from house to house collecting signatures for her campaign.
▪ in a/the house▪It was so hot outside we stayed in the house.
2 in a theatre/theaterADJECTIVE▪ empty▪ full, packedVERB + HOUSE▪ play to▪They played to a packed house.
HOUSE + NOUN▪ lights▪ managerPHRASES▪ bring the house down (= please the audience very much)▪ front of house (= the area used by the audience)▪I work front of house.
▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}the front-of-house staff
verbADVERB▪ permanently, temporarily▪The fish can be temporarily housed in a smaller aquarium.
▪ individually, separately▪The rabbits were housed individually.
▪ adequately (esp. BrE)▪At no time in the 19th century were the working classes adequately housed.
▪ badly (esp. BrE)▪The losers in this society are the homeless and badly housed.
House is used with these nouns as the object: ↑archive, ↑collection, ↑exhibit, ↑exhibition, ↑inmate, ↑machinery, ↑museum, ↑refugee
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
