Meaning & use
low-rise buildings
Last updated
Meaning
phraseplural
Buildings that have only a few floors, usually fewer than about five or six.
Grammar: This is a plural noun phrase. Use it when talking about more than one such building. For one building, say 'a low-rise building'.
Patterns
- a low-rise building
- low-rise buildings
The neighborhood is full of low-rise buildings, mostly three or four stories tall.
They replaced the old low-rise buildings with a single tall apartment tower.
Low-rise buildings are common in the suburbs because land is cheaper there.
Common combinations
- low-rise housing
- The city needs more low-rise housing for families.
- low-rise apartment
- She lives in a low-rise apartment near the park.
- low-rise development
- The council approved a low-rise development on the edge of town.
- a cluster of low-rise buildings
- A cluster of low-rise buildings surrounds the square.
Synonyms and how they differ
- low-density buildings
- Focuses on the number of people or units per area, not just height; low-rise is specifically about the number of floors.
- single-story buildings
- Means buildings with only one floor; low-rise can include buildings with up to about five or six floors.
Opposites
Word family
- low-rise adjective
- Describing a building with few floors.
- high-rise adjective
- Describing a building with many floors.
Commonly confused: low-rise buildings or low-lying?
low-rise buildings vs low-lying
Low-lying describes land that is close to sea level, not buildings. Low-rise is about buildings with few floors.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'low-rise buildings' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Low-rise buildings have only a few floors, so 'three stories tall' fits. 'Fifty floors' and 'very tall' describe high-rise buildings, and 'low-lying land' is about the ground, not the buildings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “low-rise buildings”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.