patio
Americannoun
plural
patios-
an area, usually paved, adjoining a house and used as an area for outdoor lounging, dining, etc.
-
a courtyard, especially of a house, enclosed by low buildings or walls.
noun
-
an open inner courtyard, esp one in a Spanish or Spanish-American house
-
an area adjoining a house, esp one that is paved and used for outdoor activities
Etymology
Origin of patio
1820–30, < Spanish, Old Spanish: courtyard, perhaps originally open area; compare Medieval Latin patium meadow, pasturage, perhaps derivative of Latin *patitus, past participle of patēre to lie open. See patent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The bar’s back patio was decked out with tea lights and potted palm plants.
From Los Angeles Times
Furnished in the bland decor of an extended-stay hotel, it lived up to its billing: recent construction, high ceilings, a patio and fenced yard.
“I work with found objects that had another purpose before they came to my hands,” Saar says while seated at a patio table in her succulent-filled tiered garden.
From Los Angeles Times
The man scouts around the patio and yard area apparently for something to obstruct the camera before settling on some greenery found in the yard.
From Los Angeles Times
The person notices the camera at Guthrie’s front porch and tries to cover the lens with their hand before scouting around the patio and yard area apparently for something to obstruct the camera.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
