paddock

noun

pad·​dock ˈpa-dək 

-dik

1

a

: a usually enclosed area used especially for pasturing or exercising animals

led the sheep into the paddock

especially : an enclosure where racehorses are saddled and paraded before a race

b

Australia and New Zealand : an often enclosed field

2

: an area at an automobile racecourse where racing cars are parked

Examples of paddock in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Madring, as the circuit is called, is the first new track to join the Formula 1 calendar since Las Vegas was added in 2023, and the paddock didn’t quite know what to expect. — Madeline Coleman, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2026

The release added that a 34-year-old woman had been driving an eight-seater 4WD, which rolled and came to a stop on grass between the road and a paddock. — Becca Longmire, PEOPLE, 9 Sep. 2026

Not bad for a venue that has occupied its current site since 1853, land that was once used for police-force horse paddocks and is a short, happy walk from downtown Melbourne. — Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026

As during the reign of the Inca empire, today’s vicuñas are corralled using a communal technique called the chaccu—a human chain of hundreds of people slowly guiding groups of the creatures into mobile paddocks. — Justin Fenner, Robb Report, 7 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

alteration of Middle English parrok, from Old English pearroc, from Medieval Latin parricus

First Known Use

1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for paddock

• haddock
• dyadic
• faradic
• monadic
• nomadic
• sporadic
• triadic

Kids Definition

paddock

noun

pad·​dock ˈpad-ək 

-ik

1

: an enclosed area where animals are put to eat grass or to exercise

2

: an enclosed area where racehorses are saddled and paraded before moving to the racetrack