ENGLISH
REFERENCE

indoors

adv. place
B1 Intermediate Oxford US //ˈɪnˌdɔɹz// UK //ɪndˈɔːz// in·doors General-service

adv. inside a building or under a roof. You use this when you want to stay away from the rain or cold.

adv. into or within a building. Functions as a locative adverb and does not require a following preposition.


SIMPLE

We should stay indoors until the rain stops.

CONTEXTUAL

The children played indoors all afternoon because the air quality was too poor for outdoor activities.

COMPLEX

While the architecture encourages an outdoor lifestyle, the extreme summer heat often forces residents to remain indoors where climate control systems maintain a comfortable temperature.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

From in + doors, originally two words, representing earlier within doors.

Usage

Typically placed after the verb or at the end of the clause. Unlike 'inside', it is rarely used as a preposition followed by a noun.

Pitfall

We went to indoorsWe went indoorsIndoors is an adverb of place and does not require the preposition 'to' to indicate direction.

© 2026 English Reference