dormitory

[dawr-mi-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]

noun

plural

dormitories 

1. a building, as at a college, containing a number of private or semiprivate rooms for residents, usually along with common bathroom facilities and recreation areas.

2. a room containing a number of beds and serving as communal sleeping quarters, as in an institution, fraternity house, or passenger ship.

dormitory

/ -trɪ, ˈdɔːmɪtərɪ /

noun

1. a large room, esp at a school or institution, containing several beds

2. a building, esp at a college or camp, providing living and sleeping accommodation

3. (modifier) denoting or relating to an area from which most of the residents commute to work (esp in the phrase dormitory suburb )

Word History and Origins

Origin of dormitory¹

1475–85; < Latin dormītōrium bedroom, equivalent to dormī ( re ) to sleep + -tōrium -tory ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of dormitory¹

C15: from Latin dormītōrium, from dormīre to sleep

Example Sentences

About an hour and a half later, medical staff sent him back to his dormitory.

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The trade, she recalls, left "beaded girls in the dormitories and bare-horned cows in the meadows".

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The outlets in his dormitory were inoperable, and because of the overcrowding and short-staffing, guards couldn’t take him to another area to plug them in, said his fiancee, Mildred Pierre.

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Sat on a bed in one of the dormitories is Habiba.

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At one point, he was the only first-team footballer living in the dormitory, despite the club offering him an apartment.

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Related Words

• bedroom 
• dorm 
• dorm room www.thesaurus.com