laboratory

American  

[lab-ruh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee, lab-er-uh-, luh-bor-uh-tuh-ree, -uh-tree] / ˈlæb rəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i, ˈlæb ər ə-, ləˈbɒr ə tə ri, -ə tri /

noun

laboratories plural

1. a building, part of a building, or other place equipped to conduct scientific experiments, tests, investigations, etc., or to manufacture chemicals, medicines, or the like.

2. any place, situation, set of conditions, or the like, conducive to experimentation, investigation, observation, etc.; anything suggestive of a scientific laboratory.

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adjective

1. serving a function in a laboratory.

2. relating to techniques of work in a laboratory.

   laboratory methods; laboratory research.

laboratory British  

/ -trɪ, ləˈbɒrətərɪ, ˈlæbrəˌtɔːrɪ /

noun

1. 1. a building or room equipped for conducting scientific research or for teaching practical science

   2. ( as modifier )

      laboratory equipment

2. a place where chemicals or medicines are manufactured

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Other Word Forms

• interlaboratory
  adjective
• laboratorial
  adjective
• laboratorially
  adverb
• laboratorian
  noun

Etymology

Origin of laboratory

1595–1605; < Medieval Latin labōrātōrium workshop, equivalent to Latin labōrā ( re ) to labor + -tōrium -tory ²

Explanation

A laboratory is a place where experiments happen, usually scientific experiments involving chemicals and lab coats, but there are creative and athletic laboratories too, where people experiment with writing and footballs. When you think of a laboratory, you might see men and women wearing face masks pouring colorful liquids into test tubes, and you’d be correct. Any place that is a testing ground for new ideas is a laboratory, like a class full of people thinking up new ways to make paper airplanes. The Latin verb laborare means “to labor,” so remember that a laboratory is a place of hard work: you can’t spell laboratory without labor in it.

Example Sentences

Although the new theory cannot be directly tested in distant cosmic environments, earlier laboratory experiments appear to support the findings.

From Science Daily • May 26, 2026

After tests in a provincial laboratory failed to pinpoint Ebola as the source, the disease and accompanying psychosis were both allowed to spread in Mongbwalu.

From Barron's • May 24, 2026

Armed with specialized gaming hardware, AI researchers continued to use games as a laboratory for developing advanced algorithms.

From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026

"Over the past decade, the country has managed multiple Ebola outbreaks and built strong expertise in surveillance, laboratory systems, case management, infection prevention and control, vaccination strategies and outbreak co-ordination."

From BBC • May 22, 2026

The fact that I can make a vacuum in the laboratory, for example, need not mean that a vacuum can ever occur in nature.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• lab
• workshop