Meaning & use
row houses
Last updated
“row houses” is a form of “row house”.
Meaning
nounpluralAmerican
A line of similar houses joined together, sharing side walls, usually built in one style along a street.
Grammar: Plural form; the singular is a row house, one house in the line.
Patterns
- row houses on something
- a block of row houses
We rented one of the brick row houses near the park.
Row houses line both sides of the narrow street.
Many old row houses in the city have been restored.
Word forms
| singular | row house |
|---|
Common combinations
- brick row houses
- Brick row houses stand along the avenue.
- a block of row houses
- She lives in a block of row houses downtown.
- historic row houses
- Tourists photographed the historic row houses.
- renovate row houses
- The couple plan to renovate row houses for sale.
- row houses on the street
- The row houses on the street were all painted different colors.
Synonyms and how they differ
- terraced houses
- Terraced houses is the usual British term for the same thing, whereas row houses is American.
- townhouses
- Townhouses can be joined too, but often suggest newer or more expensive homes, while row houses suggests older rows.
- semi-detached houses
- Semi-detached houses are joined in pairs only, not in long lines.
Opposites
Word family
- row house noun
- one house in a row
- row noun
- a line of things next to each other
- townhouse noun
- a tall, narrow city house
Commonly confused: row houses or rowhouses?
row houses vs rowhouses
Rowhouses is a variant spelling that you may also see; it means the same thing.
Practice
In Britain, people would call American row houses ____.
Choose one answer.
Terraced houses is the British term for a joined line of houses. A bungalow is a one-story house, which is a different style.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “row houses”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.