roommate
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of roommate
Explanation
Someone who shares a dorm room or an apartment with you is your roommate. Even if you live in a big house, the people who share it with you — and split the rent — are your roommates. If you live in a dormitory when you go to college, you'll probably have at least one roommate, and even after college it's common to share an apartment or house with roommates. You can call the campers in your cabin at summer camp roommates, though you could also call them cabin mates. The word roommate was a late eighteenth century American English invention.
Vocabulary lists containing roommate
List 1
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List 9
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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.
I moved to China for three and a half years, taking full advantage of the local happy hours, dabbling in fine dining and even splitting the cost of a housekeeper with my roommate.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 28, 2026
Among these die-hard purveyors of VHS is my friend and roommate Conor Holt, 35.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026
The roommate, Dave Schaller described the client - a large man who he said looked like "an ogre" and drove a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, a unique vehicle.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
It would be a seemingly dependable, predictable roommate relationship, and those are hard enough to come by as it is.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
I want to lie down, to get the sleep I couldn’t get last night, but something about the way my roommate is lying there makes me want to leave, to walk around.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
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.
