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

That’s the two of them, in the break room, sharing an inside joke about avocados. —Graham Techler, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2025

The Law & Order courthouse is starting to look like the break room at County General. —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 20 Nov. 2024

Baby boomers may have watched from a break room at the office or heard about it on the radio. —Stephen J. Beard, USA TODAY, 8 Oct. 2024

Finally alone, the group huddles in the break room, recounting their outside experiences. —Erin Qualey, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above