indoors

American  

[in-dawrz, -dohrz] / ɪnˈdɔrz, -ˈdoʊrz /

adverb

1. in or into a house or building.

   We stayed indoors during the storm.

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indoors British  

/ ˌɪnˈdɔːz /

adverb

1. (postpositive) inside or into a house or other building

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Etymology

Origin of indoors

1780–90; indoor + -s 1

Explanation

If you're indoors, you're inside a house or other building. On the hottest, most sweltering summer days, you might decide to stay indoors where it's cool. During a typical school day, elementary school students spend most of their time indoors, reading, writing, doing math, singing songs, and painting pictures. When they leave the indoors and go outside for recess, you can say they're outdoors. Indoors, first used around 1800 (sometimes attributed to George Washington), comes from indoor, a shortened form of within door.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

indoors

“If you find a bat indoors or think you may have had contact with one, contact your medical provider or Public Health right away.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Their experiments showed that the same basic chemistry responsible for nanoparticle formation outdoors can occur indoors much more rapidly and at much higher concentrations, with potentially important consequences for human exposure.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

The haze has reached as far as parts of the Philippines, where local officials have urged residents to stay indoors as much as possible, and Singapore, where authorities have begun issuing daily haze advisories.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

A suggestion for schools: As summer vacation comes to a close, students will likely transition to spending most of their time indoors, looking at screens.

From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026

He turned and went back indoors so the smoke would not soak into his carefully ironed shirt.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie