adobe

noun

ado·​be ə-ˈdō-bē 

1

: a brick or building material of sun-dried earth and straw

2

: a structure made of adobe bricks

3

: a heavy clay used in making adobe bricks

broadly : alluvial or playa clay in desert or arid regions

adobelike

ə-ˈdō-bē-ˌlīk 

adjective

Illustration of adobe

• adobe 2

Did you know?

Handmade sun-dried bricks, adobes are formed from a mixture of heavy clay and straw found in dry regions. As a building material, adobes date back thousands of years and are found in many parts of the world. Molds for shaping the bricks were brought to the New World by the Spanish. Excellent insulating properties make adobes ideal material for both dwellings and ovens; home interiors retain heat in winter and stay cool in summer. The adobe buildings at Taos, New Mexico, are typical of Native American pueblo dwellings.

Examples of adobe in a Sentence

The house was built of adobe.

Recent Examples on the Web

There are potsherds and petroglyphs all over, plus an old adobe cabin up in the arroyo. —Rowan Jacobsen, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025

Scarlet strings of chile hung against the light-brown adobe of houses, and the fields were checkerboards of green and gold. —Jack O'Connor, Outdoor Life, 23 Oct. 2025

In Pecos, a West Texas oil-field town dotted with man camps, equipment yards, and the occasional roofless adobe structure melting into the scrub, packs of stray dogs congregated by the gas stations and the elementary schools. —Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2025

Consider the bar raised: Tierra did a gut renovation, leaving just the cedar bones and an adobe mud brick entrance from its earliest days as a cattle corral, and emerged with a warm, modern, sleek yet unfussy escape. —Laura Dannen Redman, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Spanish, borrowed from Arabic aṭ-ṭūb, from al "the" + ṭūb "brick (material), bricks," borrowed from Coptic (Sahidic dialect) tôôbe, (Bohairic dialect) tôbi "brick," going back to Old Egyptian db.t

First Known Use

1748, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for adobe

• obie
• toby

Kids Definition

adobe

noun

ado·​be ə-ˈdō-bē 

1

: a brick or building material made of a sun-dried mixture of earth and straw

2

: a building made of adobe bricks

Etymology

Spanish