shack

shack — noun

1. a small, crudely built house or shelter, often patched together from wooden boar

1.nounB1
Definition

a small, crudely built house or shelter, often patched together from wooden boards or metal panels, used as a simple home or for storage

Example

The old fisherman lived alone in a wooden shack near the beach.

collocation: live in a shack; common modifier: wooden

Near the river, the workers built a small shack to store their tools.

Common collocations
  • wooden shack
  • tin shack
  • abandoned shack
  • fishing shack
  • beach shack
  • live in a shack
  • build a shack
Synonyms
  • hut

    a small simple building, but usually built more solidly than a shack; often used for rural dwellings or mountain shelters

  • shed

    a small building used for storage, usually in a garden or yard; not typically lived in

  • cabin

    a small house, often in a wooded or rural area, generally more comfortable and sturdy than a shack

  • shanty

    a roughly built house in a poor urban area; more negative in tone than 'shack'

Antonyms
  • mansion

    a very large, impressive house

  • palace

    an extremely large, grand building

Usage Note

Often suggests poor living conditions or a temporary dwelling. Can also describe a storage structure on a piece of land.

Common Mistakes

The mountain guide stayed in a shack during the climb.
The mountain guide stayed in a hut during the climb.
In mountain or outdoor contexts, 'hut' is the standard term for a simple trail shelter; 'shack' sounds out of place.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Shack, hut, shed, and cabin all refer to small buildings, but they differ in construction quality and typical use. A shack is the most roughly built, suggesting poor materials and often poverty or temporary conditions, whereas a hut is a simple but solid dwelling common in rural or mountain settings. A shed is specifically for storage and is never used as a home. A cabin is more comfortable and permanent, typically located in a forest or holiday setting. For example, a farmer stores tools in a shed, a climber rests in a mountain hut, a family vacations in a lakeside cabin, and displaced people live in makeshift shacks.

shack ↗hut ↗shedcabin ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • build a shack
  • live in a shack
  • construct a shack

Prepositions

  • in a shack
  • into a shack

Etymology

NahuatlMexican SpanishAmerican English

The word 'shack' entered American English in the late 1800s, possibly from the Mexican Spanish word 'jacal', which itself came from the Nahuatl (Aztec) word 'xacalli', meaning a small wooden or mud hut.