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:
The brain develops rapidly during adolescence, so even minor changes in memory, attention or thinking speed could influence classroom performance, learning and everyday activities.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
"Talking about race and racism… and decolonising the curriculum is really difficult… especially in a classroom space," a black male student said.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
OpenAI asked candidates to bring “prototypes” and design files to interviews for “show and tell” sessions, an American classroom exercise where students present objects to their classmates, Apple alleges.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Studies suggest most questions in the classroom are posed by teachers to students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Max paused and studied the sky, like you looked to the classroom ceiling for hope during a math pop quiz.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Her repeated appeals to Taliban leaders to re-open classrooms for women and girls have been ignored.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
A 29-year-old student in the capital Kabul said a staffer had "visited the classrooms and announced that from now onwards, we are not allowed to bring smartphones to the university".
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
They’re part of a program run by Options for Learning, which operates infant, toddler and preschool classrooms in more than 160 schools across the San Gabriel Valley and other regions of L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
As one educational researcher puts it, “no-one has ever gone into a sample of classrooms and found a lot of student questions.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Every day at break, we meet behind the row of extra classrooms next to the multipurpose room.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
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.
