cubicle

[ kyoo-bi-kuhl ]

noun

1. a small space or compartment partitioned off.
2. carrel ( def 1 ).
3. a bedroom, especially one of a number of small ones in a divided dormitory, as in English public schools.

cubicle

/ ˈkjuːbɪkəl /

noun

1. a partially or totally enclosed section of a room, as in a dormitory
2. an indoor construction designed to house individual cattle while allowing them free access to silage

Word History and Origins

Origin of cubicle¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin cubiculum bedroom, equivalent to cub ( āre ) to lie down + -i- -i- + -culum -cle ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of cubicle¹

C15: from Latin cubiculum, from cubāre to lie down, lie asleep

Example Sentences

“It just feels like I’m walking into a cubicle with a Dell computer that I don’t know how to work,” she says with a laugh.

From Los Angeles Times

Once a supervisee enters a cubicle, the door locks behind him.

From BBC

"He has to sit on a stool for eight hours in a cubicle," his mother told the Associated Press news agency last year.

From BBC

The incident went viral on the Chinese internet after one of the two women, Gou Tingting, posted a video of herself carrying the girl inside the cubicle.

From BBC

And since he has also suggested that mothers shouldn’t prioritize working in demanding roles—“If your worldview tells you that it’s bad for women to become mothers but liberating for them to work 90 hours a week in a cubicle at the New York Times or Goldman Sachs, you’ve been had,” he tweeted just after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.

From Slate

Related Words

• booth
• cell
• chamber
• desk
• nook
• room
• stall