palace

palace — noun

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

1.名詞B1
釋義

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.

例句

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

同義詞
  • 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

反義詞
  • hut

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

  • cottage

    a small, modest country house

用法筆記

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'.

常見錯誤

❌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.名詞C1
釋義

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.

例句

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

同義詞
  • 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

文法句型

the palace + verb

用法筆記

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.

常見錯誤

❌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.名詞B2
釋義

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.

例句

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

同義詞
  • hall

    neutral; any large public room or building

  • venue

    more modern; the place where an event happens

文法句型

proper noun + Palace

用法筆記

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.

常見錯誤

❌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.名詞B2
釋義

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.

例句

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)

同義詞
  • 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

反義詞
  • shack

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

  • studio

    a tiny one-room flat

文法句型

a (real) palace

like a palace

用法筆記

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.

常見錯誤

❌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