Skip to main content
roof garden

roof garden

1 3.5
A garden on the flat roof of a building where people grow plants or relax
  • noun
  • /ruf ˈɡɑrdən/
translation icon : jardín en la azotea
  • Many urban buildings are now adding a roof garden to create green spaces in the city for recreation and to help the environment.

Examples

  • During the summer months, the roof garden is often filled with colorful flowers and herbs, attracting butterflies.

  • We have three terraces, a roof garden, and a gym, conference room, lounge.

  • We were the first film crew allowed onto the roof garden of the Met.

  • Parties and evening courses take place in the roof garden.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Arthur, can I speak to you for a minute on the roof garden?

  • That's the roof garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  • We will sit out on the roof garden of the Rex, commenting on how the traffic below us is increasing, and the number of guests is increasing as well.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • We formed a good relationship with them, and they let us film in both the Cloisters and at the Met itself, and probably my favorite single shot of the city in the movie, just on a vista level, is the shot from the roof garden of the museum.

  • Experiencing an overwhelming need to be with people, I dressed and went to my apartment's roof garden, a beautiful oasis filled with scores of flowering shrubs, trees, and potted plants.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The roof garden on our apartment building provides a lovely space for residents to relax and enjoy the sun.

Synonyms

rooftop garden
vsroof garden
2 3.9

A garden on the roof of a building where people grow plants or relax

is specifically on a flat roof and used for recreation or environmental improvement

How Developed

roof garden
1 3.5

Surface Forms

roof garden singular
roof gardens plural

Morphology

roof + garden

The meaning 'a garden situated on the roof' is directly derivable from combining 'roof' (top covering of a building) and 'garden' (a cultivated outdoor plot); this is a straightforward compound noun with a transparent compositional interpretation. Many languages use the same logic for such compounds, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Roof garden comes from the simple picture of a garden placed on a roof, where people put soil, flowers and small plants on the flat top of a building. So, the name means 'a garden on the roof of a building', often used for rest, growing plants, or to enjoy the view.