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Glite Dictionary
to go to the bathroom

to go to the bathroom

278 1.0
To use the toilet in a polite or indirect way
  • phrasal verb
  • US
translation icon : ir al baño
  • I have to go to the bathroom.
  • need to go to the bathroom
  • ask to go to the bathroom

Yeah, just let the people go to the bathroom for Christ's sake.

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Examples

  • I have to go to the bathroom.

    Starman (1984)

  • Tritia woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I just went to the bathroom with my machine still on.

  • This is where I would go to the bathroom or whatever I have to do.

  • Wake up, go to the bathroom, put on some music every day.

  • I said I had to go to the bathroom.

    The Quiet (2005)

  • I have to go to the bathroom.

    Starman (1984)

  • Then they would believe that I had to keep going to the bathroom at night.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • When we needed to go to the bathroom, she told us to take our problem outside.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I need to go to the bathroom before we leave for the party.

Synonyms

to use the bathroom
vsto go to the bathroom
  • US
77 1.1

To go to the toilet to pee or poo

is the same meaning but uses different common phrasing
to take a piss
vsto go to the bathroom
  • Offensive
52 9.9

To pee in a rude way

is used politely or indirectly instead of crude slang
to the toilet
vsto go to the bathroom
  • NSFW
22 1.0

Go to the bathroom to pee or poo

is a polite or indirect way to state the same need
to relieve oneself
vsto go to the bathroom
  • Formal
11 7.5

To pee or poo, usually in a toilet

is more direct and names the act using ordinary words
to use the washroom
vsto go to the bathroom
  • Canadian
1 1.9

To go to a room with a toilet to pee or poo

is about the same need but framed as the polite action rather than the location
to use the loo
vsto go to the bathroom
  • UK
1 8.0

To go to the toilet to pee or poo

is the neutral polite expression used in other English varieties
to relieve nature
vsto go to the bathroom
  • Archaic
8.4

To go to the toilet to pee or poo

is polite but usually less discreet and more ordinary in speech

Antonyms

to hold one's water
  • Informal
1 9.7

To keep from peeing for a while

How Polite

to pee
  • Informal
371 2.6
to urinate
69 3.3
to go to the bathroom
  • US
278 1.0

Surface Forms

go to the bathroom infinitive
went to the bathroom past
gone to the bathroom past participle
going to the bathroom present participle
goes to the bathroom third person singular

Morphology

go + to + the + bathroom

The meaning is directly compositional: 'go' (move to) + 'the bathroom' (room for personal hygiene) yields 'go to the bathroom' = go to/use the toilet. The phrase is a simple motion verb + destination construction and its polite/euphemistic use is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Go to the bathroom began as a polite image: people would go into the private room for washing, the bathroom, instead of saying 'to use the toilet' directly. So today go to the bathroom is a polite way to say 'to use the toilet'.