plural lanais
: a roofed porch : veranda
… a covered porch is called a "lanai" in Hawaii …—
Sanette Tanaka
Sanette Tanaka… Honolulu landscape architect James C. Hubbard used four L-shaped extensions to broaden an entry lanai.—Sunset
Sunset… my feelings are just as ambivalent and I sit on the front lanai of my rented bungalow in Palm Springs, California …—Douglas Coupland
Douglas CouplandSynonyms
Examples of lanai in a Sentence
a low-slung Hawaiian beach house with an open-sided lanai to catch the tropical breezes
Recent Examples on the Web
North Fort Myers resident Scott Fincher was sitting on the lanai of his Pine Lakes community home with his family, waiting for Milton.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 11 Oct. 2024
At a home in Wellington, a resident explains hearing a tornado siren go off, then rip through her neighborhood, destroying her lanai and flooding her pool with debris including tree limbs and portions of the home.
—Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 10 Oct. 2024
Bordering the great room, a wrap-around lanai overlooks the ocean and mountains, the chirps and clicks of myna birds all around.
—R. Daniel Foster, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2024
Designs for the village include 16 pods, each with a private kitchen and bath, surrounding a community center with a large lanai, or open-sided veranda, intended to reflect the traditional Hawaiian way of life.
—Steve Patterson, NBC News, 9 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for lanai 
John Bacon, USA TODAY, 11 Oct. 2024
At a home in Wellington, a resident explains hearing a tornado siren go off, then rip through her neighborhood, destroying her lanai and flooding her pool with debris including tree limbs and portions of the home.
—Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 10 Oct. 2024
Bordering the great room, a wrap-around lanai overlooks the ocean and mountains, the chirps and clicks of myna birds all around.
—R. Daniel Foster, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2024
Designs for the village include 16 pods, each with a private kitchen and bath, surrounding a community center with a large lanai, or open-sided veranda, intended to reflect the traditional Hawaiian way of life.
—Steve Patterson, NBC News, 9 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for lanai
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lanai.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near lanai
Cite this Entry
“Lanai.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lanai. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationGeographical Definition
Lanai
geographical name
La·nai
lə-ˈnī 
lä-
variants
or Lana'i
island of Hawaii west of Maui and south of Molokai area 141 square miles (367 square kilometers)
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