room
- a portion of space within a building or other structure, separated by walls or partitions from other parts: a dining room.
- rooms, lodgings or quarters, as in a house or building.
- the persons present in a room: The whole room laughed.
- space or extent of space occupied by or available for something: The desk takes up too much room.
- opportunity or scope for something: room for improvement; room for doubt.
- status or a station in life considered as a place: He fought for room at the top.
- capacity: Her brain had no room for trivia.
- Mining. a working area cut between pillars.
- to occupy a room or rooms; lodge.
Origin of room
Synonyms
See more synonyms for room on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for room
Contemporary Examples
Toomey glides around the room like a Brazilian capoeira dancer.
One day he and some of his roommates were cleaning their room and one of the guys threw the dustpan out into the hall.
Barry showed me his room—a one bedroom with a killer view of Riverbank State Park and the Hudson.
Which is why you should: “Clap along, if you feel like a room without a roof.”
They locked eyes across the room but they initially said nothing to one another.
Historical Examples
Uncle Peter stood in a flood of light at the door of his room.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
He began to pace the floor again from one room to the other.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
"It is eighteen years since I was last in this room," he said.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
There was no bell in the room, so that was the only way I had of doing it.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Mauburn had gone to his room to be alone with this bitter news.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
room
- space or extent, esp unoccupied or unobstructed space for a particular purposeis there room to pass?
- an area within a building enclosed by a floor, a ceiling, and walls or partitionssitting room; dining room
- (functioning as singular or plural) the people present in a roomthe whole room was laughing
- (foll by for) opportunity or scoperoom for manoeuvre
- (plural) a part of a house, hotel, etc, that is rented out as separate accommodation; lodgingsshe got rooms in town
- a euphemistic word for lavatory (def. 1)
- (intr) mainly US to occupy or share a room or lodgingwhere does he room?
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for room
n.
Old English rum "space" (extent or time); "scope, opportunity," from Proto-Germanic *ruman (cf. Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic rum, German Raum "space," Dutch ruim "hold of a ship, nave"), nouns formed from Germanic adjective *ruma- "roomy, spacious," from PIE root *reue- "to open; space" (cf. Avestan ravah- "space," Latin rus "open country," Old Irish roi, roe "plain field," Old Church Slavonic ravinu "level," Russian raviina "a plain," Polish rum "space"). Old English also had a frequent adjective rum "roomy, wide, long, spacious."
Original sense preserved in make room "clear space for oneself" (late 14c.); meaning "chamber, cabin" first recorded early 14c. as a nautical term, and first applied mid-15c. to chambers within houses. The Old English word for this was cofa, ancestor of cove. Room-service is attested from 1913; room-temperature from 1879. Roomth "sufficient space" (1530s) now is obsolete.
v.
"to occupy rooms" (especially with another) as a lodger," 1828, from room (n.). Related: Roomed; rooming. Rooming-house is from 1889. In Old English (rumian) and Middle English the verb meant "become clear of obstacles; make clear of, evict."
Idioms and Phrases with room
room
In addition to the idiom beginning with room
- room and board
also see:
- not enough room to swing a cat
- take up space (room)