dormitory

[ dawr-mi-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee ]

/ ˈdɔr mɪˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dormitory ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural dor·mi·to·ries.

a building, as at a college, containing a number of private or semiprivate rooms for residents, usually along with common bathroom facilities and recreation areas.

a room containing a number of beds and serving as communal sleeping quarters, as in an institution, fraternity house, or passenger ship.

RELATED WORDS

bedroom, dorm

Nearby words

dormeuse, dormie, dormient, dormin, dormition of the blessed virgin, dormitory, dormitory suburb, dormobile, dormont, dormouse, dornase alfa

Origin of dormitory

1475–85; < Latin dormītōrium bedroom, equivalent to dormī(re) to sleep + -tōrium -tory²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dormitory

The dormitory has since been converted into a small chapel, filled with polished wooden stools and a statue of Mary in the corner.
Did the Virgin Mary Warn Rwanda’s Holiest Town of the Genocide?|Nina Strochlic|April 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The one band that blasted out of dormitory windows onto grassy quadrangles in the snooty Northeast, no matter what, was REM.
The Return of the Replacements: Here Comes a Regular|Elizabeth Wurtzel|September 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Some have even been at the dormitory during the fall term looking for him.
Michael Nodianos of Steubenville ‘Rape’ Video Drops Out of OSU, Citing Threats|Winston Ross|January 7, 2013|DAILY BEAST
She lived in a dormitory, joining some 80 other swimmers; their practice sessions ran an exhausting five-and-a-half hours a day.
China’s Olympic Soul-Searching: What the Games Have Taught the Country|Melinda Liu, Paul Mooney|August 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST

First came a rash of suicides, with Foxconn workers jumping off dormitory roofs.
Apple Makes Smart Move by Vowing to Improve China Labor Conditions|Dan Lyons|March 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Before midnight the dormitory was full of suffocating smoke.
Essays in Rebellion|Henry W. Nevinson
It did not seem to be in the dormitory, or on the stairs outside, or in the quadrangle below.
Boycotted|Talbot Baines Reed
I went down to the dormitory this morning and, as usual, there were about half a dozen boys standing before Morton's bookstore.
The Story of a Life|J. Breckenridge Ellis
The Cathedral Library was formerly the dormitory and refectories of the abbey, as it was originally styled.
Cathedral Cities of England|George Gilbert
And then if he confessed the real reason of his absence from his dormitory, who would believe him?
The Hero of Garside School|J. Harwood Panting

British Dictionary definitions for dormitory

dormitory

/ (ˈdɔːmɪtərɪ, -trɪ) /

noun plural -ries

a large room, esp at a school or institution, containing several beds

US a building, esp at a college or camp, providing living and sleeping accommodation

(modifier) British denoting or relating to an area from which most of the residents commute to work (esp in the phrase dormitory suburb)

Often (for senses 1, 2) shortened to: dorm

Word Origin for dormitory

C15: from Latin dormītōrium, from dormīre to sleep

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012