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 June quality report published on its website says that an independent laboratory did not detect microplastics in its water.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Participating companies can construct reactors outside a traditional national laboratory setting and use expedited procedures for environmental reviews.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

While living aboard the orbiting laboratory, Williams contributed to numerous scientific studies and technology demonstrations.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026

"We're dealing with a pathogen that is really hard to work in the laboratory," Diez-Gonzalez said.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

The original Watson and Crick model of DNA, with its hammered metal plates and rickety rods twisting precariously around a steel laboratory stand, is housed behind a glass case.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Most states need to send cyclospora specimens to the CDC for genetic fingerprinting because their own public-health laboratories can’t do it, Williams said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 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

What remains that haven’t been scavenged have decomposed to the point where DNA analysis is difficult and all but useless in Gaza, where there are no functioning laboratories able to test and compare samples.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

"This study reflects years of collaborative effort across multiple laboratories and would not have been possible without the dedication, creativity and perseverance of this tremendous research team that helped drive the science forward," she said.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026

Some of the children looked like walking puffballs, they were so bulky, but their gear had been made in factories and laboratories far away from the cold, and it couldn’t really cope.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• lab
• workshop