arcade

Meanings

1. A place with coin-operated games.
2. A covered passage lined with shops, or a row of arches.

Example sentences

• "We played games at the arcade after school."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The old arcade has a glass roof and small shops."

  Level B1, Meaning 2

• "He spent all his coins on the arcade machines."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The street ends in a stone arcade."

  Level B2, Meaning 2

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• mall : A mall is a large, modern shopping center, often with several floors. An arcade is usually a narrower covered street.
• amusement park : An amusement park is outdoors with rides. An arcade is an indoor room of games.

Word family and forms

Forms: arcades

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "arcade".

• a video arcade
• a shopping arcade
• an arcade game
• an arcade machine
• a penny arcade
• the old arcade

Origin

Arcade was borrowed from French in the 1720s and 1730s. The French word came from Italian arcata, an arch, built on arco, an arch, from Latin arcus, a bow or an arc. The word is not related to Arcadia, the Greek region.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Arcade has arc inside, a curve. A row of arches makes an arcade.

Test yourself

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