Meaning & use
roommate
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Meaning
nouncountableAmerican
A person who shares a room, apartment, or house with you, usually to split the rent.
Grammar: Takes a plural: roommates. British speakers more often say flatmate or housemate.
Patterns
- a roommate of someone
- live with a roommate
My roommate and I take turns cooking dinner.
She found a new roommate through a friend.
In college, he lived with three roommates.
Word forms
| plural | roommates |
|---|
Common combinations
- college roommate
- My college roommate is still my best friend.
- share with a roommate
- I share an apartment with a roommate.
- find a roommate
- They put up a notice to find a roommate.
- former roommate
- My former roommate moved to Chicago.
- roommate agreement
- The roommate agreement lists who pays which bill.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flatmate
- Flatmate is the usual British word for someone who shares a flat, and it sounds less natural in American English.
- housemate
- Housemate stresses sharing a whole house rather than a single room.
- dormmate
- Dormmate is informal and only applies to people in a college dormitory.
- cohabitant
- Cohabitant is formal and legal in tone, and it sometimes implies a couple.
Word family
Commonly confused: roommate or roomate? roommate or classmate?
roommate vs roomate
Roomate is a common misspelling; roommate has two m's from room and mate.
roommate vs classmate
A classmate is someone in your class, not someone who shares your living space.
Practice
My ___ and I split the rent and share a kitchen.
Choose one answer.
A roommate is someone you live with, so splitting rent fits. Classmate, teammate, and playmate describe other shared activities.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “roommate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.