Meaning & use
bungalow
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Meanings
nouncountable
A house with only one floor, or with all its main rooms on the ground floor.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a bungalow' or 'two bungalows'. British speakers use it often for a small single-story house.
Patterns
- live in a bungalow
- a two-bedroom bungalow
- a row of bungalows
They sold the family house and moved into a small bungalow near the sea.
The bungalow has three bedrooms and a large garden at the back.
We rented a bungalow for the week because my grandmother cannot manage stairs.
nouncountable
A small holiday house or cabin, often with one floor, in a resort or camp.
Grammar: Often used in the plural for a group of such buildings: 'We stayed in the bungalows by the pool.'
Patterns
- a beach bungalow
- stay in a bungalow
- book a bungalow
The resort offers wooden bungalows right on the beach.
Each bungalow has its own small kitchen and a shaded porch.
Word forms
| plural | bungalows |
|---|
Common combinations
- a detached bungalow
- A detached bungalow usually costs more than a flat of the same size.
- a two-bedroom bungalow
- They are looking for a two-bedroom bungalow close to the station.
- move into a bungalow
- My parents moved into a bungalow after my father hurt his knee.
- a holiday bungalow
- We booked a holiday bungalow on the south coast.
- a row of bungalows
- A quiet row of bungalows lines the road behind the school.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cottage
- A small house, often old and in the countryside; it may have more than one floor, so it is not always a bungalow.
- cabin
- A simple wooden house, usually in the countryside or at a resort; smaller and less permanent than most bungalows.
- villa
- Used for a comfortable house in a warm country or on holiday; it is often larger and may have two floors.
Word family
- bungalow-style adjective
- Built or designed in the low, single-floor style of a bungalow.
Commonly confused: bungalow or cottage?
bungalow vs cottage
A cottage is a small house, often with an upstairs; a bungalow is defined by having only one floor.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'bungalow' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A bungalow has all its rooms on one level, so avoiding stairs is a natural reason to choose one. Options 1 and 3 wrongly give it upper floors, and option 4 confuses a building with a vehicle.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bungalow”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.