roommate
Americannoun
-
roommates
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
You make less than $60,000 per year, which is considered normal for your age range, but rent is still $1,415 even though you live with a roommate.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
Knox was convicted and later acquitted of murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy in 2007.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Since then, that role has largely been filled by his roommate, who is also a close friend.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Imagine this conversation with your spouse or roommate: “Dude, what is that smell? It stinks like burning diapers. Did you forget to pay the air?”
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
My roommate sits up, rubs her face, and runs a hand through her nest of blond hair.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Employees of all ages attended meetings remotely while holding crying babies or with pajama-wearing roommates in the frame.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Many homeowners have sold up, cashed out and fled the state; renters who've stayed are working two to three jobs or living with roommates.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The new priest, Dillon Scott Vita, is the son of one of my college roommates, Bill, and his wife, Eileen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
It’s like, “Oh we’re all doing this same thing, we’re all roommates, we’re all in school together, we’re all whatever.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Now, all of the sudden in New York City, my roommates were ironically African American, Caucasian, and Asian, just like my best friends back in elementary school.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
