cubicle
Americannoun
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a small space or compartment partitioned off.
-
a bedroom, especially one of a number of small ones in a divided dormitory, as in English public schools.
noun
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a partially or totally enclosed section of a room, as in a dormitory
-
an indoor construction designed to house individual cattle while allowing them free access to silage
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cubicle
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin cubiculum bedroom, equivalent to cub ( āre ) to lie down + -i- -i- + -culum -cle 2
Explanation
A cubicle is a small space partitioned off within a larger space for a particular purpose — usually reading or studying. Or just surfing the Internet. Cubicle comes from the Latin term for a monk's bedroom, cubiculum, which itself is from the word cubare, "to lie down." Back then a monk would probably share it with an illuminated manuscript and a Bible; nowadays the average worker drone has a computer and a bunch of Post-it notes. Still great for sleeping in, though, as long as you don't get caught.
Vocabulary lists containing cubicle
Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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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.
Who knew that National Cubicle Day, once the saddest of “holidays,” would become an aspirational occasion?
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2015
Cubicle workers are switching to standing desks and going for walking meetings.
From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2015
Q. Cubicle Crisis: I am a new hire of a few months at my company.
From Slate • Aug. 5, 2014
There are a few celebrity filmgoers including director Kevin Smith, who has been honoured with an official "Kevin Smith Toilet Cubicle".
From The Guardian • Jan. 15, 2013
This was Muriel Paget, head girl of Wakehurst Priory, prefect and monitress as well, and Phyllis left for the moment her inquisition of the occupant of Cubicle Thirteen, to join in the chorus of welcome.
From Just Gerry by Chaundler, Christine
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
