break room

noun

variants or less commonly breakroom
ˈbrāk-ˌrüm How to pronounce break room (audio)
-ˌru̇m
plural break rooms also breakrooms
: a room in a workplace where an employee can go for a short period of rest or refreshment
At lunchtime I ordered pizza for the staff and we all ate together, somewhat stiffly, in the break room.Heidi Julavits
Bumping into each other in the breakroom or chatting in the elevator sometimes leads to unexpected collaboration and creative solutions.Elizabeth Baskin

Examples of break room in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But too many solutions are still dreamed up in conference rooms, far away from the break rooms and shop floors where those problems live. Silvija Martincevic, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2025 An employee who worked in the emergency room at Waterbury Hospital told Murphy that the company had promised a whole new ER, and even went so far as to post blueprints in the break room. Katy Golvala, Hartford Courant, 20 Aug. 2025 In the small Hunt Independent School District, a science lab that typically hosted students working on class experiments became a break room, outfitted with a microwave and shelves of beef jerky and coffee. Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025 Gimlet’s offices were all start-up pizzazz — designer furniture, gleaming cutting-edge equipment, break rooms stocked with free sparkling water and a cornucopia of snacks. Eric Benson, Rolling Stone, 18 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for break room

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of break room was in 1956

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Cite this Entry

“Break room.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/break%20room. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.

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