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Synonyms

Rom

1 American  
[rohm] / roʊm /

noun

plural

Roms,

plural

Rom

  1. an individual member of the Romani people, or Roma, especially a man or boy.

ROM 2 American  
[rom] / rɒm /

noun

  1. computer memory in which program instructions, operating procedures, or other data are permanently stored, generally on electronic chips during manufacture, and that ordinarily cannot be changed by the user.

rom. 3 American  

abbreviation

  1. roman (printing type).

Rom. 4 American  

abbreviation

  1. Roman.

  2. Romance. Also Rom

  3. Romania.

  4. Romanian. Also Rom

  5. Romanic. Also Rom

  6. Bible. Romans (New Testament).

Rom. 1 British  

abbreviation

  1. Roman

  2. Romance (languages)

  3. Bible Romans

  4. Romania(n)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
rom. 2 British  

abbreviation

  1. roman (type)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
ROM 3 British  
/ rɒm /

acronym

  1. read only memory: a storage device that holds data permanently and cannot in normal circumstances be altered by the programmer

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Rom 4 British  
/ rɒm /

noun

  1. a male Gypsy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
ROM Scientific  
/ rŏm /

  1. Short for read-only memory. Computer hardware that stores programs or data that cannot be added to, modified, or deleted. ROM does not require power to maintain its contents, and is often used to save instructions that enable the computer's operating system to communicate with other hardware.

ROM Cultural  

  1. Acronym for r ead o nly m emory, which refers to a memory system, such as a commercial CD, which can be read but which cannot be altered. (Compare RAM.)

Sensitive Note

See gypsy.

Etymology

Origin of Rom1

First recorded in 1835–45; from Romani: “man, married man”; compare Sanskrit ḍomba, ḍoma “a low-caste minstrel,” probably from a Dravidian language; compare Kannada ḍomba, ḍoma, Tamil dommara “caste of jugglers”

Origin of ROM2

r(ead)-o(nly) m(emory)

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.

But landing in Eswatini was like turning back the clock to his prison term, Rom said.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

Some who were killed or captured were working at the festival as security guards and ushers, including Eitan Mor, 25, Bar Kupershtein, 23, and Rom Braslavski, 21, who are among those still being held.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 11, 2025

So I said to Rom, “Come on, have a quick go at this.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 5, 2024

Rom praises Vance's debating skills, and believes he's the future of his party.

From BBC • Jul. 16, 2024

And which totally sucked because it meant he would read the rest of the comic during school, and have something lame like Rom out on the way home.

From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell

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.