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Glite Dictionary
👮 Police meeting room 🪖 Soldiers' room
squad room

squad room

3 5.1
A room in a police station where officers meet for roll call and assignments
  • noun
  • /skwɑd ruːm/
translation icon : sala de policía
  • While waiting for the captain, the officers chatted in the squad room about the latest case.
  • detective squad room
  • Back in the squad room

Examples

  • After the morning briefing, the officers gathered in the squad room to discuss their assignments for the day.

  • INT. 23RD PRECINCT - DETECTIVE SQUAD - CONTINUOUS CLOSE ON SQUAD ROOM WALL CLOCK: 6:45 PM

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Through the open door, he spots John across the squad room.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The Nightingale evidence from Shepard's kitchen floor is spread all over the squad room.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I kind of ignored my teammates and made for the coffee bar, which, unlike the one in my old detective squad room, is neat, clean, and well stocked, compliments of the Federal taxpayers.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • INT. 17TH PRECINCT - SQUAD ROOM

    Fiction book (2000)

  • INT. 17TH PRECINCT - SQUAD ROOM - CONTINUOUS

    Fiction book (2000)

  • SPARKS AND SMOKE SHOOT OUT OF CONDUCTOR BOX... INT. 17TH PRECINCT - SQUAD ROOM - CONTINUOUS CLOSE ON TV.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The detective found his partner waiting in the squad room, ready to start their shift.

How Official

operating room
  • US
46 3.2
control room
  • Specialized
63 3.4
squad room
3 5.1
locker room
  • US
145 1.6
lounge
214 2.3

Surface Forms

squad room singular
squad rooms plural

Morphology

squad + room

The meaning 'a room in a police station where officers gather' is directly derivable from combining 'squad' (a small unit/team) with 'room' (an indoor space). The productive compound pattern 'X room' (e.g., 'bedroom', 'staff room') is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand it.

Etymology

Squad room comes from the word squad (a small group of police officers) and room (a place to meet). In a police station the squad met in one room for roll call and to get assignments, so the term came to mean 'the room where that team gathers'.