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room

n. · v.
US //ˈɹum// UK //ɹˈuːm// room
  1. 1 part of a building (n.)
    A1 Beginner

    a separate part of a house or building that has its own walls, floor, and ceiling.

    a partitioned section of a building's interior, typically enclosed by walls and accessible via a door.

    Example

    The hotel room was small but very clean and comfortable.

    Example

    The architect designed the living room with floor-to-ceiling windows to maximise the view of the surrounding valley.
  2. 2 available space (n.)
    A2 Elementary

    the amount of space that is available for a person or an object.

    unoccupied space or capacity required for a specific purpose or object.

    Example

    Is there enough room in the suitcase for your heavy winter coat?

    Example

    The technician struggled to install the new server because there was simply not enough room in the rack for the cooling units.
    Pitfall
    There is many room in the car.
    There is much room in the car.

    In this sense, 'room' is uncountable and should be used with 'much' or 'a lot of', not 'many'.

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  1. 3 opportunity (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    the chance or possibility to do something or to improve.

    the scope or opportunity for a particular action or development.

    Example

    The boss said there is still room for improvement in my weekly reports.

    Example

    While the initial results are promising, there is significant room for growth in our international market share over the next fiscal year.
  2. 4 people present (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    all the people who are currently inside a room.

    a metonymic reference to the collective group of people present in a specific room.

    Example

    The comedian told a joke that made the whole room laugh.

    Example

    The speaker paused to gauge the mood of the room before addressing the more controversial aspects of the new policy.
  3. 5 digital chat space (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Computing

    a digital place on the internet where people can send messages to each other.

    a virtual environment or channel on a platform designed for real-time text communication among multiple users.

    Example

    I joined a chat room to practice my English with other learners.

    Example

    The moderator had to ban several users from the room for violating the community guidelines regarding respectful discourse.
  4. 6 to live with someone (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate American English

    to live in a room or house with someone else, usually as a student.

    to occupy a room or rooms as a lodger or to share a living space with a roommate.

    Example

    I roomed with my best friend during our first year at university.

    Example

    He decided to room with a graduate student to ensure a quieter environment for his final year of medical school.

    Usage

    Often used with the preposition 'with'.
Etymology 1

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *Hrew-? Proto-Indo-European *(H)rewH-der. Proto-Germanic *rūmą Proto-West Germanic *rūm Old English rūm Middle English roum English room From Middle English roum (“room, space”), from Old English rūm (“room, space”), from Proto-West Germanic rūm (“room”), from Proto-Germanic rūmą (“room”), from Proto-Indo-European (H)rewH- (“to root; to rip, tear”), from Hrew- (“to tear out, open”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian rüm (“room, space”), Saterland Frisian and Low German Ruum (“room, space”), Dutch ruim (“open space; cargo hold”), German and Luxembourgish Raum (“room, space”), Vilamovian raojm (“room”), Danish and Swedish rum (“room, space”), Faroese and Icelandic rúm (“space, room”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk rom (“room, space”), Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌼 (rum, “room, space”); also Irish rúsc (“bark”), Manx roost (“bark; peel, rind”), Scottish Gaelic rùsg (“rind; bark; fleece; shell”), Welsh rhisgl (“bark”), Latin rūs (“country, fields, lands; estate, farm; village”), Ancient Greek ὀρύσσω (orússō), ὀρύττω (orúttō, “to dig”), Latvian raut (“to pull with force”), Lithuanian rauti (“to grub, pull”), Belarusian рыць (rycʹ, “to dig”), Bulgarian ри́я (ríja, “to excavate”), Czech rýt (“to dig; to engrave”), Polish ryć (“to dig”), Russian рыть (rytʹ, “to dig; to burrow, mine”), Slovak ryť (“to dig; to engrave”), Slovene riti (“to dig”), Ukrainian ри́ти (rýty, “to dig, excavate”), Central Kurdish ڕێو (rêw, “public hair”), Tocharian A kärpi (“raw, rough; common”), Tocharian B kärpiye (“raw, rough; common”), Sanskrit लोमन् (loman), रोमन् (roman, “body hair; down, wool”). More at rural. Doublet of Raum, a surname from German. The word superficially appears to be an exception to the Great Vowel Shift, which might have produced the pronunciation /ɹaʊm/, but the retention of Middle English /uː/ before /m/ is regular. In fact, /aʊ/ does not occur before non-coronal consonants in Standard Modern English native vocabulary. Some dialects did undergo diphthongization in such a position and the pronunciation /ɹaʊm/ occurs, for example, in Lancashire.

Etymology 2

From Middle English roum, rom, rum, from Old English rūm (“roomy, spacious, ample, extensive, large, open, unencumbered, unoccupied, temporal, long, extended, great, liberal, unrestricted, unfettered, clear, loose, free from conditions, free from occupation, not restrained within due limits, lax, far-reaching, abundant, noble, august”), from Proto-Germanic rūmaz (“roomy, spacious”), from Proto-Indo-European rewh₁- (“free space”). Cognate with Scots roum (“spacious, roomy”), Dutch ruim (“roomy, spacious, wide”), Danish rum (“wide, spacious”), German raum (“wide”), Icelandic rúmur (“spacious”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English rome, from Old English rūme (“widely, spaciously, roomily, far and wide, so as to extend over a wide space, liberally, extensively, amply, abundantly, in a high degree, without restriction or encumbrance, without the pressure of care, light-heartedly, without obstruction, plainly, clearly, in detail”). Cognate with Dutch ruim (“amply”, adverb).

Word family
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