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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-
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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:
Among the flags on the roof of that Whitehall building is the Ukrainian blue and yellow.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
By this he meant that companies like CVS are facing increasing government skepticism about the wisdom of combining drug retailing, pharmacy management and health insurance under one roof.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Both U.S. regulators and members of Congress could have some concerns over a possible deal, which would put Musk’s biggest companies under one roof, experts say.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
Instead of the formal post-midterms remarks that previous presidents have made, the 80-year-old announced that he was there to sign the final steel beam going into the roof of his $400 million pride and joy.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
Huge icicles fringed the entrance and the roof.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
Why are more roofs not made of solar tiles?
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Not only was the friendship transactional, but you took a closer look at the people whose roofs needed repairing.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 25, 2026
Residents are believed to have exited and entered their homes via openings in their ceilings, and to have traversed the city by scrambling across their neighbors’ roofs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
But supporters of solar roofs argue that they should not be pitted against standard solar modules on roofs.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
But others were brick and stone with wooden roofs towering over her head.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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
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
The Lightning tied it in the opening minute of the second as Cirelli crossed to the front of the net uncontested and roofed a shot over Korpisalo.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
The oldest kind were, indeed, no more than built imitations of smials, thatched with dry grass or straw, or roofed with turves, and having walls somewhat bulged.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Burns, a 35-year-old pastor and roofing salesman in LaGrange, Ga., paid a Georgia lawyer a $2,500 retainer when his marriage came apart last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
The consumer advice charity says one in 10 of all the scams it recorded over the past year were related to roofing, making it the most common type of scam brought to them.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Yocheved Ruttenberg grew up in Baltimore, went by “Kim,” and was selling roofing door-to-door in Texas when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
The Kennedy Center closed its doors indefinitely on Sept. 15 after an inspection found acute public safety concerns, among them roofing issues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
Sheets of charred metal roofing crumpled in the fields where the wind had blown it.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
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