: a house, apartment building, or residential hotel in which low-income or welfare tenants live in single rooms

SRO

2 of 2

abbreviation

standing room only

Examples of SRO in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Noun
Proof, virtually selling out the Booth for a gross of $935,431; The Rocky Horror Show, at 98% of capacity at Studio 54 for a gross of $727,283 (a Wednesday matinee was canceled); and Dog Day Afternoon, SRO at the August Wilson, $1,114,914. Greg Evans, Deadline, 21 Apr. 2026 According to testimony and trial evidence, Green's conviction stemmed from a Sep. 18, 2025 incident at an SRO hotel on Mason Street. Tim Fang, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026 And aren’t politicians always talking about reviving the SRO anyway? Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 26 Mar. 2026 After the fire, the city plunged into an inspection of every SRO. Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 16 Mar. 2026 Officials credited the on-site school resource officer (SRO), school nursing staff and responding medical personnel for their swift response. Eric MacK, FOXNews.com, 12 Mar. 2026 During the show’s 2023 Broadway run, SRO audiences were encouraged to dance in place and ponder despots at the same time — a greater disassotiative challenge than walking and chewing gum at the same time, but hardly an insurmountable one. Chris Willman, Variety, 21 Feb. 2026 The situation also underscores San Francisco’s heavy reliance on hundreds of SRO hotels in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin, Chinatown and the Mission District, many built in the early 20th century, as a cornerstone of its affordable housing system. Laura Waxmann, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 Dec. 2025 Although the shooter didn’t begin his attack near the SRO, the officer’s approach – heard by the shooter over the radio – helped limit the scope of the attack. Laura Carno, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

single-room occupancy

First Known Use

Noun

1941, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of SRO was in 1941

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“SRO.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/SRO. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.

Kids Definition

SRO

noun
: a house, apartment building, or residential hotel in which low-income or welfare tenants live in single rooms
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