classroom

American  

[klas-room, -room, klahs-] / ˈklæsˌrum, -ˌrʊm, ˈklɑs- /

noun

classrooms plural

1. a room, as in a school or college, in which classes are held.

2. any place where one learns or gains experience.

   The sea is the sailor's classroom.

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classroom British  

/ -ˌrʊm, ˈklɑːsˌruːm /

noun

1. a room in which classes are conducted, esp in a school or college

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Usage

What does classroom mean? A classroom is traditionally a room in a school where a class is taught. The word classroom is commonly used to refer to such a room at every level of education, including elementary school, high school, and college. It can also be used in a more general way to refer to any space where students are being taught by a teacher. Some classrooms might not even be in a room—some schools have outdoor classrooms where students are taught outside, for example. The word is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to the primary place where someone learns and gains experience outside of a formal educational setting, as in My grandfather didn’t have much formal schooling—the farm was his classroom. Example: I try to set up my classroom to be a space that allows each student to learn in their own way.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• classrooms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of classroom

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; class + room

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

classroom classrooms

They built a connection through those organizations, and Randolph was able to see how Wallace applied himself in the classroom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

Rubble is all that remains of her classroom, where she taught first-grade girls at Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, a small city in southern Iran.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

My younger brother is a teacher, so he’s usually in a classroom.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

One of Duan's favorite classroom demonstrations helps illustrate the phenomenon.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder, I thought, turning back toward the Nuance and Observation classroom.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Across the nation, they’ve set up safe spaces in schools, specialized classrooms that feel more like living rooms and that are manned by professional counselors trained in domestic violence intervention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

Keeping it that way requires vigilance on the bench—and in the classrooms and reference guides behind it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

But it meant that suddenly under-resourced primary schools needed more classrooms, science laboratories, additional teachers with subject specialisations and new learning materials.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Octavia E. Butler, Homer: Los Angeles teachers share what they are teaching in today’s high school classrooms, book recommendations and how they’re fighting AI and tech fatigue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

What happened this morning becomes the talk of the school and makes its way into our classrooms.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold