roof
Americannoun
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roofs
plural
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the external upper covering of a house or other building.
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a frame for supporting this.
an open-timbered roof.
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the highest part or summit.
The Himalayas are the roof of the world.
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something that in form or position resembles the roof of a house, as the top of a car, the upper part of the mouth, etc.
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a house.
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Mining. the rock immediately above a horizontal mineral deposit.
verb (used with object)
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roofs,
present (3rd person singular)
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roofed,
past participle, past
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roofing
present participle
idioms
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go through the roof,
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to increase beyond all expectations.
Foreign travel may very well go through the roof next year.
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Informal. Also hit the roof to lose one's temper; become extremely angry.
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raise the roof,
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to create a loud noise.
The applause raised the roof.
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to complain or protest noisily.
He'll raise the roof when he sees that bill.
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noun
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a structure that covers or forms the top of a building
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( in combination )
the rooftop
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( as modifier )
a roof garden
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the top covering of a vehicle, oven, or other structure
the roof of a car
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anatomy any structure that covers an organ or part
the roof of the mouth
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a highest or topmost point or part
Mount Everest is the roof of the world
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a house or other shelter
a poor man's roof
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mountaineering the underside of a projecting overhang
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informal
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to get extremely angry; become furious
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to rise or increase steeply
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to create a boisterous disturbance
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to react or protest heatedly
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verb
Usage
Plural word for roof The plural form of roof is roofs (not rooves). Roof is not pluralized by replacing the -f ending with -ves, as is done in many other words ending in -f, such as shelf/shelves, scarf/scarves, and hoof/hooves. The word roof comes from Old English, and like many Old English-derived words ending in -f, it initially had two plural forms: roofs and rooves. It’s not clear why rooves dropped out of use. It might be simply because we don’t use the plural form of roof very often, compared to more common words like leaf/leaves. Other examples of this pluralization pattern include proof/proofs, chief/chiefs, and brief/briefs.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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roofernoun
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underroofnoun
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reroofverb (used with object)
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rooflessadjective
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rooflikeadjective
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self-roofedadjective
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unroofedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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roofsimple
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roofssimple
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have roofedperfect
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has roofedperfect
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am roofingprogressive
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are roofingprogressive
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is roofingprogressive
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have been roofingperfect progressive
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has been roofingperfect progressive
Past
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roofedsimple
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had roofedperfect
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was roofingprogressive
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were roofingprogressive
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had been roofingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of roof
before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English hrōf; cognate with Dutch roef cover, cabin, Old Norse hrōf
Explanation
The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire! Just kidding. That’s from an ‘80s rap song and it means a party is rocking. A roof is a building's cover. It keeps the rain out of your house party. The roof on your house or apartment building keeps rain, snow, and harsh sunlight out. Vehicles have roofs too: "I could hear sleet hitting the car roof," and so do enclosed spaces like porches or caves. You might even refer to the fact that you have a home as "having a roof over my head." As a verb, to roof means "to install a roof." When you "raise the roof," you make a lot of festive noise.
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.
See Examples For:
The roof had to be opened using a crane after the stairwell collapsed.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
"The whole ship was a sweat box," he said, with some passengers in cabins that had no windows resorting to sleeping on the ship's roof.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Then they turned a garden hose on the roof.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The fire, believed to have started in the roof of the 500,000-square-foot cold storage warehouse, immediately raised health concerns because of the thick smoke that spread across the area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
On top of the roof of the car were four seagulls.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
The board also clarified it would not require the removal of trees, although limbs would need to be trimmed away from roofs and chimneys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Three bungalows in Stonehouse Avenue were severely damaged, with two, including Paula's home, losing their roofs completely.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The temporary walls and roofs, the tables and chairs, the music.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Mohammad Aslan, spokesman for the committee that runs the affairs of Qalandia camp, told AFP that the Israeli army had arrested at least 20 people and took up positions on residents' roofs.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Many have roofs of tejas, some already slid off to the ground, leaving gaps.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
Only decades ago many of the cottages in Scotland’s Highlands were roofed in heather, bracken and marram grass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Yeah, I built houses with my parents and I’ve roofed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2025
The team also discovered the remains of a roofed theatre, which could have seated 1,500 people.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2023
Ylonen made it 5-3 at 11:55 when he jumped on defenseman Timothy Liljegren’s turnover and roofed a backhander.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
Behind the open market was a towering wooden building with four separate roofed sections and fenced- in courtyards.
From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen
Seek a second opinion from your own independent roofing contractor, including a report on the previous repair to the roof.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
And some features that had previously been eliminated needed to be returned to the home, including original roofing, porches and even light switches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
I then obtained estimates from three roofing companies.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
He slowly expanded over 7 acres by acquiring adjacent businesses, including a roofing company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
One of my brothers-in-law was a roofing foreman.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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.
