palace

palace — noun

1. a very large, grand house used as the main home of a country's ruler — for examp

1.nounB1
Definition

a very large, grand house used as the main home of a country's ruler — for example a king, a queen, or a president — often with hundreds of rooms and beautiful gardens.

Example

Buckingham Palace has more than six hundred rooms and a wide private garden.

named royal palace as subject

Tourists waited two hours to see inside the king's summer palace in Bangkok.

possessive pattern: [ruler]'s palace

Common collocations
  • royal palace
  • presidential palace
  • palace gates
  • palace gardens
  • inside the palace
Synonyms
  • castle

    originally a fortified building for defence; can also be a royal home but stronger and stone-walled

  • court

    the place where a king or queen lives, but more often refers to the people and ceremonies around them

  • residence

    more formal and general; any official home of an important person

Antonyms
  • hut

    a very small, simple building — strong contrast in size and grandeur

  • cottage

    a small, modest country house

Usage Note

Often used with the names of well-known buildings (Buckingham Palace, the Imperial Palace). When the building is named, no article is used; when described generally, use 'the palace' or 'a palace'.

Common Mistakes

I visited Buckingham the Palace.
I visited Buckingham Palace.
drop the article when the palace's name comes before the word.
The president works in a White Palace.
The president works in the White House.
not every leader's home is called a palace; many have specific names.

2. the king, queen, or president together with their staff and advisers, spoken abo

2.nounC1
Definition

the king, queen, or president together with their staff and advisers, spoken about as a single group — most common in British news writing as a way to mean the royal family and the people who work for them.

Example

The palace said the queen would not attend the ceremony because of her cold.

the palace + reporting verb (said, announced)

Reporters asked the palace for a comment on the prince's new book.

ask the palace for a comment

Common collocations
  • the palace said
  • the palace announced
  • a palace source
  • the palace has confirmed
Synonyms
  • court

    very close in meaning; slightly older or more formal

  • royal household

    more explicit; the staff and family of a monarch

  • Buckingham Palace

    in British news, often used the same way as 'the palace' to mean the royal team

Grammar Patterns

the palace + verb

Usage Note

Almost always 'the palace' with a lowercase 'p'; the group it stands for is clear from context (usually Buckingham Palace and the British royal household). Distinguish from sense 1 — here the palace cannot mean a building, only people.

Common Mistakes

A palace announced the news.
The palace announced the news.
this sense always takes 'the'.
The palace are very tall buildings.
Palaces are very tall buildings.
when you mean the building, don't use this group sense.

3. a word placed inside the name of a fancy, sometimes very decorated building open

3.nounB2
Definition

a word placed inside the name of a fancy, sometimes very decorated building open to ordinary people — for example a cinema, theatre, hotel, or dance hall — to make the name sound grand.

Example

We watched the new Bond film at the old Roxy Palace cinema downtown.

[name] Palace as a building name

The Crystal Palace was a huge glass hall built in London for an exhibition in 1851.

famous Palace + relative clause

Common collocations
  • movie palace
  • dance palace
  • ice palace
  • the Crystal Palace
Synonyms
  • hall

    neutral; any large public room or building

  • venue

    more modern; the place where an event happens

Grammar Patterns

proper noun + Palace

Usage Note

Capitalised as part of a proper name (the Ice Palace, the Lake Palace) and almost always preceded by 'the'. The building does not need to be royal — the word is used to suggest size, beauty, or fun.

Common Mistakes

We danced at palace last night.
We danced at the Palace last night.
when 'Palace' is a building's name, use 'the' and a capital P.
A movie palace where kings lived.
A movie palace is just a fancy old cinema.
in this sense, no royalty is involved.

4. any private home that feels much bigger or more beautiful than normal — often sa

4.nounB2
Definition

any private home that feels much bigger or more beautiful than normal — often said to praise or joke about how grand someone's house seems.

Example

After their tiny flat, Lina's new four-bedroom house felt like a palace.

feel like a palace (figurative)

The film star lives in a marble palace overlooking the sea in Cannes.

live in a palace (hyperbole)

Common collocations
  • a real palace
  • like a palace
  • marble palace
  • private palace
Synonyms
  • mansion

    the most direct synonym; a very large private house

  • estate

    includes the house plus the land around it

  • manor

    a large country house, often historic

Antonyms
  • shack

    a very small, poorly built home — opposite end of the scale

  • studio

    a tiny one-room flat

Grammar Patterns

a (real) palace

like a palace

Usage Note

Frequently used as a friendly exaggeration ('your place is a palace'). Distinguish from sense 1 — here no royalty or president lives there; the speaker just means the house is grand.

Common Mistakes

My grandmother lives in a palace because she has three rooms.
My grandmother's three-room flat feels like a palace to her after years in a tiny cottage.
use 'like a palace' or 'a palace' only when the size or beauty really stands out.
They are rich, so they live in palace.
They are rich, so they live in a palace.
countable noun; needs an article.

palace — adjective

Word family

  • palatial
    adjectiveC2
  • palaces
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words describe grand buildings or the people in them, but they are not interchangeable. A 'palace' is the official home of a king, queen, or president, usually richly decorated and meant for both living and ceremony (Buckingham Palace, the Élysée Palace). A 'castle' was first built for defence, with thick stone walls and towers; it may also be royal but feels older and more military (Edinburgh Castle). A 'mansion' is a very large private house owned by a rich family, with no royal status — film stars live in mansions, not palaces. 'Court' refers more to the king or queen together with their advisers, rather than the building itself. 'Residence' is the most formal and general: any official home of an important person, royal or not. Compare: 'The president gave a speech at his official residence' (neutral) versus 'The president gave a speech at the palace' (suggesting grandeur and royalty).

palace ↗castle ↗mansion ↗courtresidence ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • palace gates
  • palace guard
  • palace gardens
  • palace walls
  • palace grounds
  • palace life

Phrases

  • royal palace
  • presidential palace
  • summer palace
  • imperial palace
  • fit for a palace

Prepositions

  • at the palace
  • in the palace
  • inside the palace
  • outside the palace
  • to the palace

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

The word came into English in the 13th century from Old French 'palais', which itself came from Latin 'palatium'. The Latin word originally named the Palatine Hill in Rome, where the early emperors built their homes; over time 'palatium' came to mean 'imperial home', and then any grand official home. The same Latin root also gave English 'palatial' (very large and grand) and 'paladin' (a noble knight).