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:
On the day of his “Transformers” audition, Cullen had mentioned to Larry, his roommate at the time, that he was on his way to try out to be the voice of “a hero truck.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
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
My roommate also got me into jogging, which dovetailed with my own Diet Coke phase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● 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
And how to get along with a roommate.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
A few times she moved to live with roommates to bring down the cost of renting.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Freeman, on the other hand, started the season in triple A. But that didn’t split up the roommates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
In November, Davis suggested the roommates break out of their rut by working their way through the cuisines of every country in the world at local restaurants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen reminisced about working two jobs, living with roommates and eating ramen after college.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Even one of his roommates popped out to ask him how he was doing and pleaded with him not to tell any of his other roommates he had popped out.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
