indoors
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of indoors
1780–90; indoor + -s 1
Explanation
If you're indoors, you're inside a house or other building. On the hottest, most sweltering summer days, you might decide to stay indoors where it's cool. During a typical school day, elementary school students spend most of their time indoors, reading, writing, doing math, singing songs, and painting pictures. When they leave the indoors and go outside for recess, you can say they're outdoors. Indoors, first used around 1800 (sometimes attributed to George Washington), comes from indoor, a shortened form of within door.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sheriff Tony Kelly ordered McNeil to do 300 hours of unpaid work and tagged him for six months, meaning he must stay indoors between 20:00 and 05:00.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
In places like Palangkarya, the official advice is to stay indoors and avoid going out.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
It urged families to keep children indoors and to use "respiratory protection" if going outside.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
“If you find a bat indoors or think you may have had contact with one, contact your medical provider or Public Health right away.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
But there is more indoors to a ship than you can picture.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
