barrack

1 of 3

noun

bar·​rack ˈber-ək 

-ik;

ˈba-rək,

-rik

1

: a building or set of buildings used especially for lodging soldiers in garrison

—usually used in plural

2

a

: a structure resembling a shed or barn that provides temporary housing

—usually used in plural

b

: housing characterized by extreme plainness or dreary uniformity

—usually used in plural

barrack

2 of 3

verb (1)

barracked; barracking; barracks

transitive verb

: to lodge in barracks

barrack

3 of 3

verb (2)

barracked; barracking; barracks

transitive verb

chiefly British

: to shout at derisively or sarcastically

intransitive verb

1

chiefly Australia : root, cheer

—usually used with for

2

chiefly British : jeer, scoff

barracker noun

Examples of barrack in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

For months, the government has vowed to move people into former military barracks and onto barges, like the Bibby Stockholm, but the numbers living there are still small. —Megan Specia, New York Times, 18 Nov. 2023

The group is also responsible for killing 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, in the 1983 bombing of a military barracks at the Beirut International Airport. —Louis Casiano, Fox News, 8 Nov. 2023

The park’s community center was a military barracks during World War II. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2023

Cavalcante was arraigned at the Avondale barracks on an escape charge, according to the office of Judge Matthew Seavey. —Maryclaire Dale, Chicago Tribune, 13 Sep. 2023

As the rockets rained down, the National Guard troops vacated their barracks in the public school. —James Verini Paolo Pellegrin, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2023

More human remains are being retrieved daily by Israeli soldiers during military operations in Gaza, and by search-and-rescue teams combing the fields, homes and military barracks that were targeted in Hamas’s onslaught. —Kevin Sieff, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2023

Itaewon was spawned as a bawdy nightlife district adjacent to the U.S. military barracks, whose carousing GIs inevitably lent a reputation for sleaze and debauch. —TIME, 26 Oct. 2023

Hamas and Iran will forever brandish the images of yesterday’s violence as symbols of newfound power: Israeli commanders being dragged out of their barracks in their boxer shorts, the bulldozer tearing down the Erez crossing, Hamas militants parading Israeli tanks. —Kim Ghattas, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2023

Verb

For New Yorkers barracked in our houses and apartments, or doctors and nurses scrambling for face masks, beseeching a saint to end an epidemic may not sound sufficient. —Jason Farago, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2020

Army barracks torn down, new housing to come The Glendale campus was originally a U.S. Army air-training base for World War II. —Jen Fifield, azcentral, 16 June 2019

Some 200 people were quickly evacuated from campgrounds in the fire's path in addition to 80 children who were trapped in a camp barracks Saturday. —CBS News, 10 July 2017

The Marine veteran used some of his time while in the Wounded Warrior barracks to take writing, filmmaking and business classes, with an eye toward this future. —Jeanette Steele, sandiegouniontribune.com, 22 June 2017

The military would not permit reporters to wait near the gate to the prison barracks complex. —Charlie Savage, New York Times, 16 May 2017

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

French baraque hut, from Catalan barraca

Verb (2)

perhaps from dialect (northern Ireland) barrack to brag

First Known Use

Noun

1686, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Verb (1)

1701, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

1885, in the meaning defined at transitive sense