hovel
hovel — noun
- hovelsingular
- hovelsplural
1. a cramped and filthy place where someone lives, so poorly maintained that it is
a cramped and filthy place where someone lives, so poorly maintained that it is unhealthy or extremely unpleasant to stay in
For years, Folake and her three children lived in a cramped mud-brick hovel.
collocation: cramped + hovel for describing smallness
Omar worked two jobs to save for a deposit and escape his damp, leaky hovel.
adjectives before hovel: damp, leaky
The journalist described the windowless hovel as unfit for any human to sleep in.
After the earthquake, thousands of families slept in makeshift hovels without running water.
Brooke could not believe that anyone still lived in such a dirty, rat-infested hovel.
- shack
more neutral — a simple, roughly built house that may or may not be dirty
- dump
informal — emphasizes mess and untidiness rather than the building's structure
- hovel-like dwelling
used when the building is not literally a home but someone lives there in poor conditions
文法句型
a [adjective] hovel
live in / be reduced to a hovel
用法筆記
Strongly negative and emotive word. Unlike shack or hut, which can be neutral or even positive in some contexts, hovel always carries the speaker's judgment of disgust or pity.