noun
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a sanitary fitting, esp one fixed to a wall, used by men for urination
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a room containing urinals
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any vessel for holding urine prior to its disposal
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of urinal
1225–75; Middle English < Old French < Late Latin ūrīnāle, neuter of ūrīnalis of urine. See urine, -al 2
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:
The piece proved an immediate hit, with critics comparing it to ready-made master Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 porcelain urinal, “Fountain.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Staff at the emergency department there started adapting the disposable male urinal bottle for women to use, lessening the need for catheters and making life more dignified and pain-free in hospital.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2025
Smoove: I don’t know if you guys have ever been through this, but I was at a urinal …
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
The first time I covered an event at Wrigley Field, I discovered the only facility on the press level was a urinal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
Estha Alone in HIS had to piss onto naphthalene balls and cigarette stubs in the urinal.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
In the case of public toilets, such a justification "does not appear to exist" since the cost of building, maintaining and cleaning cubicles and urinals is basically the same, the professor said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
I base this not on any grand political theory but on how many times I stood next to members of Congress at urinals at DCA during my years living in D.C.
From Slate ● Nov. 7, 2025
The urinals — see the particularly majestic Deco “Radio” Adamsez iteration in the gentleman’s cloakroom of the old Derry and Toms building, Kensington — elevate the form to art even before Duchamp.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2024
Bathrooms, featuring 1,100 toilets and urinals, are strategically placed throughout the concourse, with no more than 100 feet separating them, according to estimates from staff, guaranteeing fewer butts on toilets and more butts in seats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024
We could go into the boys’ lavatory and look at the urinals.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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.
