minipalace

Etymology

From mini- + palace.

Why this word is great

MINIPALACE — [Noun] A small palatial building. From mini- ("small") + palace ("a grand residence, especially a royal one"). Unlike a "cottage" (which is humble and rustic) or a "mansion" (which is large but generic), a minipalace is a jewel-box of extravagance, scaled down but not diluted. It is the gilded folly in a billionaire’s garden, the absurdly ornate dollhouse of a spoiled child, or the tiny, over-decorated pavilion where a minor prince might take his tea—proof that grandeur, when compressed, becomes not less grand, but more absurd.

noun

  1. A small palatial building.“There can be something absurd or even melancholy about the open-plan minipalaces some middle-class Britons consider essential for civilised living.”