lawn

lawn — noun

1. a flat piece of land beside a building or inside a public park where short grass

1.nounA2
Definition

a flat piece of land beside a building or inside a public park where short grass is grown and mown often to keep the area neat

Example

The children rolled down the lawn and laughed in the sunshine.

Every Sunday, Esteban mows the front lawn before breakfast.

collocation: mow the lawn / front lawn

Common collocations
  • mow the lawn
  • cut the lawn
  • front lawn
  • back lawn
  • manicured lawn
  • well-kept lawn
  • lawn mower
  • lawn chair
  • lawn sprinkler
  • lawn furniture
  • spread across the lawn
  • stretch across the lawn
Synonyms
  • grassy area

    more general; any ground covered in grass

  • yard

    American English for the whole outdoor area around a house, which may include a lawn

  • green

    specifically a common grassy area in the middle of a village or for sports, not beside a house

Grammar Patterns

[article/determiner] + lawn

on the lawn

the front/back/side lawn

Usage Note

Countable noun. Distinguish from field (a large open area, usually used for farming or sports) and meadow (a wild grassy area in nature). A lawn is specifically a maintained grass area right next to a building.

Common Mistakes

Please don’t walk on the grass' (when referring to the maintained area near a house).
Please don’t walk on the lawn.
'grass' refers to the plant itself; 'lawn' refers to the whole area of mown grass, typically beside a building.

2. a thin, smooth cotton or linen fabric with a tight weave, used especially for ma

2.nounC1
Definition

a thin, smooth cotton or linen fabric with a tight weave, used especially for making light summer clothes such as shirts, blouses, and dresses

Example

The tailor picked a soft lawn fabric for Christopher’s summer shirt.

collocation: lawn fabric

Shirin wore a white lawn dress that felt cool in the afternoon heat.

collocation: lawn dress

Common collocations
  • cotton lawn
  • linen lawn
  • lawn fabric
  • lawn dress
  • lawn blouse
  • lawn gown
  • lawn cloth
  • fine lawn
  • soft lawn
Synonyms
  • cambric

    a similar thin cotton fabric, slightly more see-through than lawn

  • batiste

    a very fine, lightweight cotton or linen fabric, very similar to lawn

  • cotton voile

    a semi-sheer lightweight cotton fabric, less stiff than lawn

Grammar Patterns

lawn + [noun]

[adjective] + lawn

made of lawn

Usage Note

Uncountable when referring to the fabric in general ('made of lawn'), but countable when naming a specific type ('a fine cotton lawn'). This sense is uncommon in everyday speech and appears mainly in fashion, tailoring, or textile contexts.

Common Mistakes

The shirt is made of fine lawn linen.
The shirt is made of fine lawn.
'lawn' already names the type of fine cloth; adding 'linen' is redundant unless you need to specify the fibre.

Word family

  • lawnmower
    nounB1
  • lawn chair
    nounB1
  • lawn tennis
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Lawn, grass, field, meadow, and yard all refer to areas of land covered with vegetation, but they differ in size, location, and use. A lawn is a maintained grass area beside a house or building, regularly mown to stay short and tidy. Grass can refer to the plant itself or any grassy surface of any size. A field is a large open area, often used for farming, grazing livestock, or playing sports. A meadow is a wild, natural grassy area where wildflowers grow and the grass is not cut short. A yard (especially in American English) means the whole outdoor area around a house, which may include a lawn, a garden, a driveway, and other features. For example: 'Quinn mows the lawn every Saturday' describes a maintained area near a house; 'The horses ran across the field' describes a large farming area; 'We found wild strawberries in the meadow' describes an untamed natural setting.

lawn ↗grass ↗field ↗meadowyard ↗

Etymology

GaulishOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'lawn' comes from Middle English 'launde', meaning an open space in a forest or a glade. This came from Old French 'lande' (heath or open country), which can be traced back to a Gaulish word for open land. By the 1500s, 'lawn' had shifted from meaning a forest clearing to any grassy open area, and by the 1700s it came to mean a cultivated grass plot intentionally kept short near a house. The separate fabric sense comes from the French town of Laon, a historic centre of linen weaving.