dormitory

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

/ ˈdɔr mɪˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

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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.

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“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

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Origin of dormitory

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

Words nearby dormitory

dormeuse, dormie, dormient, dormin, Dormition of the Blessed Virgin, dormitory, dormitory suburb, Dormobile, Dormont, dormouse, dornase alfa

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use dormitory in a sentence

He said dormitories at the 13,000-student school also weathered the challenge.
Lessons from the pandemic fall: Infections are rare in classrooms, not off campus|Nick Anderson, Susan Svrluga|December 10, 2020|Washington Post
Just as Shahra was preparing to build the farm—Sekaran left the company earlier this year—Singaporean officials discovered a cluster of covid-19 cases in one of the country’s cramped worker dormitories.
Inside Singapore’s huge bet on vertical farming|Katie McLean|October 13, 2020|MIT Technology Review
The BIE, which serves about 8% of Native students across the country, directly operates about a third of the 180 schools and dormitories in its system.
The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting.|by Alden Woods, Arizona Republic|September 28, 2020|ProPublica
At the end of his workday, Suga returns to his quarters in a modest dormitory for legislators and, before turning in, does 100 more sit-ups.
How the son of strawberry pickers became Japan’s most likely choice for next prime minister|claychandler|September 3, 2020|Fortune

There was a classic study that took over an entire dormitory and tried to see who would become friends with whom.
Reasons to Be Cheerful (Ep. 417)|Stephen J. Dubner|May 7, 2020|Freakonomics
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
Ginsberg had become annoyed that the woman the university employed to clean dormitory rooms never washed the window in his room.
The Mystery of the Allen Ginsberg-Diana Trilling Feud|Gregory Curtis|June 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Ironically, Dick Cheney lived in that same dormitory decades later.
Meet America’s Indiana Jones: Andrew Carroll Searches for Forgotten History Across the U.S.|Nina Strochlic|May 14, 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 was speaking to Alicia Livingstone in the dormitory, changing at the same time for a "turn" at the hospital.
Hilda|Sarah Jeanette Duncan
Such was the temptation which assailed the other boys in dormitory Number 7; and Eric among the number.
Eric, or Little by Little|Frederic W. Farrar
The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory Number 7, he was shocked beyond bound or measure.
Eric, or Little by Little|Frederic W. Farrar
Why, you must be the girl who wrote a picture play to help build a dormitory for your school!
Ruth Fielding At College|Alice B. Emerson
If the former erects a handsome dormitory, the latter must have one larger and finer.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science|Various

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

dormitory

Origin of dormitory

Words nearby dormitory

Words related to dormitory

How to use dormitory in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dormitory

Word Origin for dormitory