A waiting room is where people sit before being called. Chairs round the walls, and magazines from 2019.
Doctors, dentists, stations and garages all have one, and the atmosphere of a medical waiting room is one of the more particular experiences in life, since nobody wants to be there and everybody is being quiet about it. The design of them is now taken seriously, since anxiety is measurably affected by light and seating. Reception is the desk and the waiting room is the seats.
1nounwaiting roomA room where people wait to be seen or served.
“The waiting room was full by half past eight.”
From waiting + room. Compare Dutch wachtruimte (“waiting room, waiting area”), German Warterraum (“waiting room”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Body & Health, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 13 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word