Arcade
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A row of arches.
"The walk down to the Underground station is equally easy, as you pass through the restored undercroft along an arcade of two-way spanning 'quadripartite' arches."
- 2 a structure composed of a series of arches supported by columns wordnet
- 3 A covered passage, usually with shops on both sides.
- 4 a covered passageway with shops and stalls on either side wordnet
- 5 Synonym of amusement arcade.
- 1 To cover (something) as with a series of arches. transitive
"[…] its trottoirs brick-paved and shaded by trees of almost tropical foliage—conspicuous among them the odoriferous magnolia, and the melia azedarach, or “Pride of China”—these in places completely arcading the streets—the town of Nachitoches offered the aspect of a rus in urbe, or urbs in rure, whichever way you may wish it."
Example
More examples"The shopping arcade was covered with lots of paper decorations."
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French arcade, from Italian arcata (“arch of a bridge”), from Latin arcus (“arc”).
Related phrases
More for "arcade"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.