room
pronunciation
How to pronounce room in British English:
UK [ruːm]
How to pronounce room in American English:
US [ruːm]
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- Noun:
- an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
- space for movement
- opportunity for
- the people who are present in a room
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- Verb:
- live and take one's meals at or in
Word Origin
- room
- room: [OE] The Old English word for ‘room’ was cofa (ancestor of modern English cove ‘sheltered bay’). At that time, room meant simply ‘space’ (as its German relative raum still does). Its modern sense ‘chamber’ did not emerge until the 15th century. It comes ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic adjective *rūmaz ‘spacious’, which may be related to Latin rūs ‘country’, source of English rural and rustic. Rummage is a distant relative.=> rummage, rural
- room (n.)
- Old English rum "space" (extent or time); "scope, opportunity," from Proto-Germanic *ruman (cognates: 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- (1) "to open; space" (cognates: Avestan ravah- "space," Latin rus "open country," Old Irish roi, roe "plain field," Old Church Slavonic ravinu "level," Russian ravnina "a plain"). 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 Roomth "sufficient space" (1530s) now is obsolete.
- room (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."
Example
- 1. It all starts with how do you book a meeting room ?
- 2. He conceived the idea while in an intensive care unit waiting room .
- 3. The room looks very nice .
- 4. We went to his room .
- 5. The room seemed so empty .