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Glite Dictionary
semi-detached house

semi-detached house

2.3
A house joined to another on one side that shares a wall
  • noun
  • /ˌsɛmi dɪˈtætʃt haʊs/
  • UK
translation icon : casa adosada
  • My grandparents live in a cozy semi-detached house with a garden that we love to visit.

Examples

  • They decided to buy a semi-detached house in the suburbs to have more space.

  • The street was lined with rows of semi-detached houses built in the 1950s.

  • She grew up in a semi-detached house with her parents and younger brother.

  • They live in a semi-detached house.

  • My friend just bought a semi-detached house in London.

  • The new neighborhood has many semi-detached houses that share a wall but have their own front yards.

  • After moving into the semi-detached house, we quickly made friends with our neighbors on the other side.

Synonyms

semidetached house
vssemi-detached house
  • UK
3.3

A house joined to another house on one side by a shared wall

is the hyphenated form written with a hyphen between the parts

Antonyms

detached house
1 2.5

A house that stands alone and is not attached to other houses

How Attached

apartment building
  • US
98 1.2
terraced house
  • UK
1 2.5
semi-detached house
  • UK
2.3

Surface Forms

semi-detached house singular
semi-detached houses plural

Morphology

semi-detached + house

The meaning is compositionally derivable: 'semi-' means partly and 'detached' means not joined, so 'semi-detached house' transparently denotes a house partly joined to another (sharing a wall). This is a regular morphological/compounding pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Semi-detached house comes from how the building is made: semi means 'partly' and detached means 'separate', so two houses are joined on one side by a single wall. That's why it means a house that shares one wall with another.