Meaning & use
pied-à-terre
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Meaning
nouncountable
A small second home, usually in a city, that someone keeps for short stays while living mainly somewhere else.
Grammar: Plural is pied-à-terres, or sometimes pieds-à-terre.
Patterns
- a pied-à-terre in somewhere
She kept a tiny pied-à-terre near the theater so she could stay in town after evening shows.
The senator's only property in the capital is a one-room pied-à-terre.
After the children left home, they sold the big house and bought a pied-à-terre in Paris.
Word forms
| plural | pied-à-terres |
|---|
Common combinations
- a London pied-à-terre
- His London pied-à-terre is little more than a bed and a kettle.
- buy a pied-à-terre
- They decided to buy a pied-à-terre rather than rent hotel rooms each month.
- keep a pied-à-terre
- The conductor keeps a pied-à-terre in every city where he performs.
- a city pied-à-terre
- A city pied-à-terre suits people who commute only a few days a week.
- use as a pied-à-terre
- They use the flat as a pied-à-terre during the winter season.
Synonyms and how they differ
- second home
- Second home is the plain, everyday phrase and can mean any larger vacation house, while pied-à-terre implies something small and urban.
- city flat
- A city flat may be someone's main residence, but a pied-à-terre is by definition not the owner's main home.
- bolt-hole
- A bolt-hole is a place to hide or escape to, so it stresses retreat rather than convenience for short stays.
Opposites
Word family
- pied noun
- the French word for foot, seen in this borrowed phrase only
Commonly confused: pied-à-terre or vacation home?
pied-à-terre vs vacation home
A vacation home is used for leisure, often in the country or by the sea, while a pied-à-terre is mainly a practical base in a city.
Practice
Why would someone most likely buy a pied-à-terre?
Choose one answer.
A pied-à-terre is a small place kept for occasional use, not a main home. The other options describe renting, relocating or storage.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pied-à-terre”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.