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:
We stop at a popular shop, newly under a roof, for cheung fen, rice-flour rolls dressed in sesame, soy, and chile, and eat standing up, like before.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Not long afterward, a meteorite weighing more than two pounds punched through the roof of a home in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
He had no choice but to relocate his remaining 35 or so hives to the roof of a residential building, but admitted the situation was far from ideal.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Time had punctured the roof with 20 holes and whenever it rained, Baker would run around placing buckets under them and emptying them when they were full, like a game of Whac-A-Mole.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
It’s usual in the winter to go out in the morning and see chickens on the roof, flocked around the chimney warming themselves.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
Loft spaces and top-floor rooms can also become hot because roofs absorb solar heat.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
Inspecting roofs, especially distinguishing between wind and hail damage, involves a certain degree of subjective judgment.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which hit the region in mid-April, knocked out power for tens of thousands of inhabitants, uprooted trees, overturned cars and ripped metal roofs off buildings.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
Many buildings have caved-in roofs and some appear completely flattened.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
We bundle the reeds to make thatched roofs.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
“Gambrel roofed Barnhaus,” the listing read, “next door to the best burritos in town.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
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
In its new meeting house, which is roofed with branches and leaves in the traditional style, waits Tito López, the community's sayla – or leader.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2025
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
The silk tenting that roofed Khal Drogo's hall had been rolled up tonight, and the moon followed them inside.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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
Its construction-materials segment makes supplies for roofing and insulation, among other things.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Yet residents who have cautiously returned to Nabatieh have expressed dismay at the huge damage Israel inflicted on the city's neighbourhoods and its famed market, where the roofing had collapsed and shops were devastated.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Now the cabin was ready for galvanized roofing sheets.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
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.
