noun
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
Etymology
Origin of classroom
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:
"I can't say the feelings are very good," she said, walking through her old classroom, chairs now covered in dust.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Students at Brinell School had only just returned to the classroom following the summer break, with the new term beginning either on Monday or Wednesday this week, depending on the academic year.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The general effect is more of 10 diligently prepared classroom lectures than of a broadly conceived historical narrative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
During a phone call, Horvath told Garratt that the school didn’t want her back in the classroom due to her Facebook post and terminated her employment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
I hold open the door to Kumu Whitman’s classroom.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Over the last five years, efforts to make social networks Facebook and Instagram safer for young people have erupted across courts, classrooms and capitals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
"Ten years from now, this is going to be taught in classrooms," said DeLong.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Education Secretary Linda McMahon praised the growing use of artificial intelligence in classrooms Sunday, even as she acknowledged there is little evidence yet showing how the technology affects student learning.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Written for Lincoln’s birthday and dedicated to Booker T. Washington, the song was nearly forgotten but for its use in classrooms around Jacksonville, Fla., from which its stature grew.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
There was a fish tank in one of the third-grade classrooms, and the frogs would be put there until someone figured out where they came from.
From "Hopping Mad (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #4)" by Franklin W. Dixon
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.
