Barn vs. Stable — What's the Difference?

A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.

A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock.

A large building for sheltering livestock, storing hay or other agricultural products, or housing equipment used for operating a farm.

(of an object or structure) not likely to give way or overturn; firmly fixed

A large shed for the housing of vehicles, such as railroad cars.

A building set apart and adapted for keeping horses

A particularly large, typically bare building

Put or keep (a horse) in a stable

Abbr. b(Physics) A unit of area equal to 10-24 square centimeters, used to measure cross sections in nuclear physics.

Resistant to change of position or condition; not easily moved or disturbed

(agriculture) A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.

Not subject to sudden or extreme change or fluctuation

(nuclear physics) A unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres.

Maintaining equilibrium; self-restoring

An arena.

Enduring or permanent

(slang) A warm and cozy place, especially a bedroom; a roost.

Consistent or dependable

A child.

Not showing or marked by erratic or volatile emotions or behavior

(transitive) To lay up in a barn.

(Physics) Having no known mode of decay; indefinitely long-lived. Used of atomic particles.

A covered building used chiefly for storing grain, hay, and other productions of a farm. In the United States a part of the barn is often used for stables.

(Chemistry) Not easily decomposed or otherwise modified chemically.

A child. See Bairn.

A building for the shelter and feeding of certain domestic animals, especially horses.

To lay up in a barn.

A group of animals lodged in such a building.

An outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals

All the racehorses belonging to a single owner or racing establishment.

(physics) a unit of nuclear cross section; the effective circular area that one particle presents to another as a target for an encounter

The personnel employed to keep and train such a group of racehorses.

A group, as of athletes or entertainers, under common management

To put or keep in a stable.

To live in a stable.

A building, wing or dependency set apart and adapted for lodging and feeding (and training) ungulates, especially horses.

(metonymy) All the racehorses of a particular stable, i.e. belonging to a given owner.

(Scotland) A set of advocates; a barristers' chambers.

(sumo) An organization of sumo wrestlers who live and train together.

(professional wrestling) A group of wrestlers who support each other within a wrestling storyline.

A group of prostitutes managed by one pimp.

A group of people who are looked after, mentored, or trained in one place or for a particular purpose or profession.

(transitive) to put or keep (an animal) in a stable.

(intransitive) to dwell in a stable.

To park (a rail vehicle).

Relatively unchanging, steady, permanent; firmly fixed or established; consistent; not easily moved, altered, or destroyed.

(computing) Of software: established to be relatively free of bugs, as opposed to a beta version.

That maintains the relative order of items that compare as equal.

Firmly established; not easily moved, shaken, or overthrown; fixed; as, a stable government.

Steady in purpose; constant; firm in resolution; not easily diverted from a purpose; not fickle or wavering; as, a man of stable character.

Durable; not subject to overthrow or change; firm; as, a stable foundation; a stable position.

So placed as to resist forces tending to cause motion; of such structure as to resist distortion or molecular or chemical disturbance; - said of any body or substance.

To fix; to establish.

To put or keep in a stable.

To dwell or lodge in a stable; to dwell in an inclosed place; to kennel.

A house, shed, or building, for beasts to lodge and feed in; esp., a building or apartment with stalls, for horses; as, a horse stable; a cow stable.

A farm building for housing horses or other livestock

Shelter in a stable;

Resistant to change of position or condition;

Firm and dependable; subject to little fluctuation;

Not taking part readily in chemical change

Maintaining equilibrium

Showing little if any change;