roommate
Americannoun
-
roommates
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of roommate
Explanation
Someone who shares a dorm room or an apartment with you is your roommate. Even if you live in a big house, the people who share it with you — and split the rent — are your roommates. If you live in a dormitory when you go to college, you'll probably have at least one roommate, and even after college it's common to share an apartment or house with roommates. You can call the campers in your cabin at summer camp roommates, though you could also call them cabin mates. The word roommate was a late eighteenth century American English invention.
Vocabulary lists containing roommate
List 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 9
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
See Examples For:
“There’s plenty of roommate stories still out there to tell, and there’s no shortage of exes,” Childs said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Add a roommate instead of getting your own place.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Karnofsky was once Amodei's roommate, and is now married to his sister Daniela, who co-founded Anthropic with him.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
His roommate, the same one he rented with, helps him pay the mortgage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
My roommate has new zombie friends, and they all think I’m a freak.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
A company later acquired the home but also didn’t make repairs, pushing Raj and her roommates out.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
A few times she moved to live with roommates to bring down the cost of renting.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen reminisced about working two jobs, living with roommates and eating ramen after college.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Mallot handed over a letter with biographical information for all four roommates, including credit scores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
“I have picked your roommates for you, so don’t worry your pretty little heads about making arrangements with your buddies.”
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
