dormitory

American  

[dawr-mi-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈdɔr mɪˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

noun

• dormitories
  plural

1. 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.

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

---

dormitory British  

/ -trɪ, ˈdɔːmɪtərɪ /

noun

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

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

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dormitories
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dormitory

1475–85; < Latin dormītōrium bedroom, equivalent to dormī ( re ) to sleep + -tōrium -tory ²

Explanation

A dormitory is a building at a boarding school, college, or university where students live. Many students have roommates in a dormitory, and sometimes those roommates put up really cheesy posters of shirtless guys leaning on cars. The word dormitory is from the Latin dormitorium for "sleeping place," and if you keep going back you get to dormire for "to sleep." A dormitory is where students who live at school sleep — well, it’s where their beds are anyway. Often the first time kids sleep away at school is when they go to college. There are often different dorms for freshman and older students. Dormitories are also called dorms, residence halls, and student residences.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dormitory dormitories

A student in Huanggang told the BBC that he had thought it was "just an ordinary thunderstorm", until he saw "things started flying through the air outside" the dormitory window.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

Detainees in his dormitory submitted a grievance about commissary prices, Parada Calderon said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

As night fell, forensic investigations continued as white body bags were brought out and lined up outside the dormitory, an AFP journalist saw.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

One dormitory had one toilet for 31 people, they found.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

Besides class, we ate all our meals together, and on weekends, he'd asked me over to his dormitory for parties in his hall.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

One chimpanzee, Yvan, eventually picked up the crystal and deliberately carried it back to the dormitories.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026

Located in the Berkshires, in Massachusetts, IMS has welcomed luminaries like the Dalai Lama to its grounds, which includes three dormitories and a forest retreat amid acres of well-maintained trails.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

Overcrowding in dormitories and the failure to follow safety guidelines, such as keeping exits clear and windows unlocked, have frequently been blamed for the high number of casualties.

From BBC ● May 29, 2026

The facility hosts 85 beds with the capacity to expand to 100 and includes a mix of dormitories, lavatories, a kitchen and laundry facilities.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

And so, by dint of alternate coaxing and commanding, he contrived to get them all once more enclosed in their separate dormitories.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Related Words

• bedroom
• dorm
• dorm room