indoors
Americanadverb
adverb
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The listing highlights the home’s airy areas: “The open floor plan, complemented by floor-to-ceiling glass doors, seamlessly integrates the indoors with the outdoors, offering an extraordinary living experience.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Everyone is afraid of the severe weather and staying indoors, but I only came out because I have orders," a breakfast shop owner surnamed Tsai told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
Youth Unity also has an area indoors for podcasting, gaming and debating - things he says are all relevant in modern Britain.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Both indoors and out, Porter proved that there was beauty where one was inclined to behold it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“To spend time in nature, and not laze about indoors when the weather is fair,” she said.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
