break room

noun

variants or less commonly breakroom

ˈbrāk-ˌrüm 

-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

Throughout season two, rabid fans have started scrutinizing every corner of every scene for Easter eggs, which explains a recent viral post on X about a picture of a cat hanging in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s break room. —Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2026

Take two or three minutes to say hello to your neighbor, go into the break room, or take a walk during your break with one of your co-workers. —Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 14 Apr. 2026

Ma said during the ribbon cutting event that fake ceilings had obscured the building’s skylights and there was only one break room. —Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 23 Mar. 2026

Jake heard the news in the break room at work and almost immediately began a long-winded email to Tom. —Olivia Krupp, Vanity Fair, 19 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for break room

• assume
• backroom
• ballroom
• barroom
• bathroom
• bedroom
• boardroom
• bridegroom
• classroom
• cloakroom
• consume
• costume