Meaning & use

divan

noun·Advanced

A long, backless couch or sofa, often placed against a wall and used for sitting or reclining.

See it in a sentence

Guests relaxed on the low divan while sipping tea in the sitting room.

The apartment's small living room featured a simple divan instead of a full sofa set.

A note on using this word

Divan can also refer historically to a Middle Eastern council of state or a collection of poems, senses that derive from the same Persian and Turkish origin.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Another way to use it

2. noun

Historically, a council of state or high governmental council in the Ottoman Empire and other Middle Eastern states.

The sultan consulted the divan before declaring war on the neighboring kingdom.

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