Meaning & use
inn
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small hotel or pub, often in the countryside, where travelers can stay and eat.
Grammar: Countable: an inn, several inns. Often part of a name: the Red Lion Inn.
Patterns
- stay at an inn
We spent the night at a cozy inn beside the lake.
The inn served hot soup and fresh bread.
Travelers on the old road often stopped at the village inn.
nouncountableBritishspecialist
In England, one of the old societies of lawyers, called Inns of Court, or the buildings they use.
Grammar: Used in the capitalized names Inn of Court and Inns of Court.
Patterns
- an Inn of Court
Barristers in London belong to an Inn of Court.
The student joined one of the four Inns.
Gray's Inn is among the ancient Inns of Court.
Word forms
| plural | inns |
|---|
Common combinations
- country inn
- They honeymooned at a quiet country inn.
- stay at an inn
- We plan to stay at an inn near the coast.
- coaching inn
- The coaching inn dates back to the 1700s.
- village inn
- The village inn hosts a quiz night every Friday.
- book an inn
- She booked an inn for the hiking weekend.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tavern
- Tavern focuses on drinking and was originally less about lodging, while an inn offers rooms as well.
- pub
- Pub is mostly British and is about drinks and food, while an inn also has rooms for guests.
- hotel
- Hotel is usually bigger and more modern, whereas inn suggests a small, traditional place.
- lodge
- Lodge often suggests a rustic place in the mountains or woods, and may be used by hunters or skiers.
Word family
- innkeeper noun
- a person who runs an inn
- innkeeping noun
- the business of running an inn
- innholder noun
- an old word for an innkeeper
Commonly confused: inn or in?
inn vs in
In is a very common preposition and sounds exactly like inn, but they are spelled differently.
Practice
Which place is most likely to be called an inn?
Choose one answer.
An inn is a small, traditional place offering food, drink and rooms. A large airport hotel would normally be called a hotel, and the other options offer no lodging.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “inn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.