Meaning & use
boarded-up building
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A building whose doors and windows are covered with wooden boards, usually because it is empty or unsafe.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a boarded-up building or two boarded-up buildings.
Patterns
- a boarded-up building
- be boarded up
The old hotel has been a boarded-up building for years.
We walked past a row of boarded-up buildings on the way to the station.
After the fire, the shop became a boarded-up building with notices on the door.
Word forms
| plural | boarded-up buildings |
|---|
Common combinations
- stand empty and boarded up
- The house stood empty and boarded up for a decade.
- board up a building
- Workers came to board up the building before the storm.
- a boarded-up shop
- A boarded-up shop on the corner is being turned into a café.
Synonyms and how they differ
- derelict
- Derelict means abandoned and in poor condition; it does not always mean boards cover the windows.
- shut up
- Shut up (of a building) means closed for business; it can be temporary and does not imply boards.
Opposites
Word family
- board up phrasal verb
- To cover windows or doors with boards.
Commonly confused: boarded-up building or boarding house?
boarded-up building vs boarding house
A boarding house is a place where you pay to live and get meals; it sounds similar but means something different.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The passive form 'was boarded up' fits because people covered the building with boards; option 2 needs 'after' without a direct object, option 3 is active and wrong here, and option 4 uses the wrong verb form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “boarded-up building”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.