What does "hostel" mean?
A commercial overnight lodging place, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
Hostel
/ˈhɑstəl/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A commercial overnight lodging place, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
- Grammar: hostel is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: youth hostel, auberge, backpacker hostel, boardinghouse.
- Useful contrasts: five star hotel, luxury hotel, private apartment.
- Usage evidence: Is there a youth hostel near here?
How to use "hostel"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hostel" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hostel" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hostel" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hostel" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hostel" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "youth hostel" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hostel", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A commercial overnight lodging place, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
"a rundown hostel"
- 2 inexpensive supervised lodging (especially for youths on bicycling trips) wordnet
- 3 A temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food.
- 4 a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers wordnet
- 5 A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge. obsolete
"There are also in Oxford certeine hostels or hals, which may rightwell be called by the names of colleges , if it were not that there is more libertie in them , than is to be seen in the other"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 A public hotel. obsolete
"Immediately at hand was a small, mean public-house - one of those dingy establishments that seem to express, by their morbid and retiring appearance, a certain anxiety to escape the eye of the police - and into the parlour of this hostel Quin promptly led the way."
- 7 A university or school dormitory, a place of accommodation for students. South-Africa, South-Asia
Verb
- 1 To stay in a hostel during one's travels. intransitive
- 2 To lodge (a person) in a hostel. transitive
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
five star hotelluxury hotelprivate apartment
Example
"Is there a youth hostel near here?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hostel"?
Common synonyms include: youth hostel, auberge, backpacker hostel, boardinghouse, budget lodging, campus dormitory.
How do you use "hostel" in a sentence?
Is there a youth hostel near here?
How do you pronounce "hostel"?
Pronounced /ˈhɑstəl/.
Etymology
From Middle English hostel, from Old French hostel, ostel, from Late Latin hospitale (“hospice”), from Classical Latin hospitalis (“hospitable”) itself from hospes (“host”) + -alis (“-al”). Doublet of hotel and hospital. Not in use from late 17th c. (in the usual sense from mid 16th c.) to 1808, when it was revived by Walter Scott in his poem Marmion (see the quotation).