Word.ws English Dictionary

barracks

Syllables: bar·racksUK/ˈbæɹəks//ˈbæɹəks/

barracks is the plural of barrack.

barracks is the third-person singular simple present indicative of barrack.

Noun

barracks (plural barracks)

  1. A group of buildings used by military personnel as housing.
    • There is a large barracks in this town and two other barracks are nearby.
    • Resendiz was last seen on May 29 in her barracks in Miller Hall at Naval Station Norfolk, according to a missing person’s alert issued by Virginia State Police on June 3.2025 June 13, Rosa Flores, “Missing Navy sailor found dead in Virginia, another sailor in custody”, in CNN, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025
  2. Synonym of police station.
    • After calling everyone they could think of and coming up empty, Kellie filed a missing persons report with the Vermont State Police. Two days later, Kellie and Bruce drove to the State Police barracks in St Albans to drop off their daughter’s photographs.2026 July 16, Nicholas Muhoro, “Inside the 2004 Brianna Maitland Case: One of Vermont’s Most Haunting Mysteries”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026
    Synonyms:
    police station
  3. (Philippines) A form of simple temporary on-site staff housing for construction workers.

Meaning of barrack

Noun

barrack (plural barracks)

  1. (in plural) A building for soldiers, especially within a garrison; originally referred to temporary huts, now usually to a permanent structure or set of buildings.
    • Before the gates of Bari, he lodged in a miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches, and thatched with straw; a perilous station, on all sides open to the inclemency of the winter and the spears of the enemy.1829, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 4, page 67
  2. (in plural) A primitive structure resembling a long shed or barn for (usually temporary) housing or other purposes.
  3. (broadly, in plural) Any very plain, monotonous, or ugly large building.
  4. (US) A (structure with a) movable roof sliding on four posts, to cover hay, straw, etc.
  5. (Ireland, colloquial, plural-normally) A police station.

See all 11 meanings of barrack

Proper noun capitalized: Barracks

Barracks

  1. (plural) plural of Barrack

Synonyms of barracks

Forms of barracks

pluralbarracks

Words formed from barracks

Phrases with barracks

Questions about barracks

What does barracks mean?
Barracks means a group of buildings used by military personnel as housing.
What is barracks the plural of?
Barracks is the plural of barrack.
What part of speech is barracks?
Barracks can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce barracks?
Barracks is pronounced /ˈbæɹəks/ (UK).
What is the plural of barracks?
The plural of barracks is barracks.

Words near barracks in the dictionary

  1. barrackers
  2. barracking
  3. barrackings
  4. Barrackpore
  5. Barrackpur
  6. barracks
  7. barracks bag
  8. barracks bags
  9. barracks bunny
  10. barracks communism
  11. barracks emperor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: barracks (page history and authors); Barracks (page history and authors); barrack (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-barracks.ogg.

Cite this entry: “barracks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barracks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.