Meaning & use
windowsill
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
The flat ledge at the bottom of a window frame, either inside or outside a building.
Grammar: Countable: a windowsill, two windowsills, the windowsill. Use the before it when you mean a specific one.
Patterns
- on the windowsill
- a wide/narrow windowsill
- sit on the windowsill
She put a small potted plant on the windowsill.
Rain was beating against the outside windowsill.
He sat on the windowsill and watched the street below.
Word forms
| plural | windowsills |
|---|
Common combinations
- on the windowsill
- The cat likes to sleep on the windowsill in the afternoon sun.
- a wide windowsill
- The kitchen has a wide windowsill where she keeps her herbs.
- line the windowsill
- Tiny glass animals lined the windowsill in her bedroom.
- clean the windowsill
- I wiped the windowsill with a damp cloth.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: windowsill or window seal?
windowsill vs window seal
A window seal is a strip or material that stops air or water coming in; a windowsill is the flat ledge at the bottom.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
We use on for something resting on a flat surface such as a windowsill. In is wrong because the keys are not inside it, and at or by would only mean near it, not on it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “windowsill”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.