dormer
Americannoun
-
Also called dormer window. a vertical window in a projection built out from a sloping roof.
-
the entire projecting structure.
noun
Other Word Forms
- dormered adjective
Etymology
Origin of dormer
1585–95; < Middle French dormoir dormitory
Explanation
Almost like a picture in a pop-up book, a dormer is a peaked extension, with a window, that rises up from the roof of a house. The word dormer often refers to the window itself. A dormer, with roots in the French dormir (“to sleep”), often extends from an upstairs bedroom. The word has a sense of old-fashioned charm about it. Though you may occasionally still see a face peeking out from a dormer, the word brings to mind old stories such as the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Snow Queen”: “They each had a little dormer window, and one only had to step over the gutter to get from one house to the other.”
Vocabulary lists containing dormer
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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Architecture 101
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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.
The roof and an upstairs dormer window of the property were severely damaged by fire.
From BBC • Dec. 14, 2025
Believe it or not, it only takes those and a few more simple tools to build a dormer.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 30, 2023
A steep roof and dormer windows accentuate the traditional style.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2020
That something might be a chimney, a plumbing vent pipe, a powered attic fan, a turbine vent or a dormer, or it might be where two roof surfaces intersect.
From Washington Post • Jan. 8, 2019
Stepping inside, one found oneself in a small living room with slanted walls and dormer windows.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
