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.

---

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• laboratories
  plural

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

See Examples For:

laboratory laboratories

The U.K., whose new Prime Minister Andy Burnham was in Kyiv on Monday for a meeting of Ukraine’s allies, also said that it would be given access to Ukraine’s Avengers AI laboratory.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Although the central microchip is only about the size of a grain of rice, the entire system currently occupies a tabletop laboratory setup.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026

Preliminary laboratory tests have found traces of cyanide in samples of the crops taken from the elephants' stomachs.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

In one deafening and dangerous laboratory mishap, a glass tube that was overfilled with gas exploded.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

In the laboratory, I did not truly understand the concepts of night and day.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

The work also reflects FRIB's larger partnership with national laboratories, which encourages the exchange of knowledge between fundamental research and national security applications.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

At field stations and in Stanford laboratories, the scientists measured how much oxygen each organism consumed under different water temperatures.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

Weihong Xiao, another medical researcher, worked in laboratories headed by Gillison for 20 years, following her from Johns Hopkins to Ohio State and then MD Anderson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Britain's national laboratories — the government-owned sites and expert teams that build and run the country's big scientific machines — face the deepest squeeze.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

But the words of the others were stronger than the strength of philanthropic dollars, deeper than shafts sunk in the earth for oil and gold, more awe-inspiring than the miracles fabricated in scientific laboratories.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

Related Words

• lab
• workshop