dormitory

American  

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

noun

plural

dormitories

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.

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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 )

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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

Her son, Paul Flores, was the last person seen with Smart as the two walked toward her dormitory at Cal State San Luis Obispo after a 1996 Memorial Day weekend party.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

The company, however, denied that the staff member entered the female dormitory, and said the cameras were installed only in common areas, such as entrances and kitchens, for "safety reasons", following past incidents involving intruders.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2026

Lam Thanh, 50, who manages a dormitory for workers near one of Ho Chi Minh City's estimated 1,000 courts, says the cacophony is proving to be costly.

From Barron's • Dec. 28, 2025

Every morning, he said, an officer goes from dormitory to dormitory asking whether anyone wants to self-deport.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2025

They let me and another prisoner stay in the dormitory, simply left us there in our sleeping-bags as if by oversight, when it was plain that we could not stand up on our feet.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• bedroom
• dorm
• dorm room