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Glite Dictionary
residence hall

residence hall

7 2.8
A building on a college campus where students live
  • noun
  • /ˈrɛzɪdəns hɔl/
  • US
translation icon : residencia estudiantil
  • Wake Forest cut the ribbon on the five-story residence hall for 224 students on Friday.
  • live in residence hall
  • residence hall living
  • student residence hall

Examples

  • The purpose of this study was to explore students' perceptions toward the residence hall living environment.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Their scholarships allowed them to stay in the residence hall in a double, triple, or quad room.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The students also indicated that the residence hall staff had less responsibility than students' parents.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Both studies indicated that students were satisfied with most of the residence hall services.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Each study helped the administrators understand the factors that increased student satisfaction with residence hall life.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The current study's findings indicate that female students are more satisfied with the residence hall than male students.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The study's findings demonstrate that the students are mostly satisfied with their residence hall living environment.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The purpose of this study is to explore students' perceptions of the residence hall living environment at Kuwait University.

    Academic text (2007)

  • All students were unmarried, 96% were enrolled full time, and 85% lived in residence halls.

    Academic text (2004)

  • During the weekend, many students gathered in the residence hall to socialize and study together.

Synonyms

dorm
vsresidence hall
  • Informal
209 1.8

A building where college or university students live while they study

is the neutral formal term rather than the informal name
hall
vsresidence hall
156 1.0

A university building where students live

is the term commonly used for university campus housing in some regions
dormitory
vsresidence hall
38 2.4

A building where college or university students live while they study

is the common North American term for that campus housing
hall of residence
vsresidence hall
  • UK
3.2

A building where university students live during term time

is the same idea but more common in British usage
student residence
vsresidence hall
3.0

A building on a college or university campus where students live

is campus-owned accommodation rather than general housing
collegium
vsresidence hall
9.9

A building where students live and study together, often with a shared dining hall

is the specific campus housing term, not the wider institutional meaning

How Big

residence hall
  • US
7 2.8
apartment
  • US
∞ 1.0
single bed
  • UK
5 1.0

Surface Forms

residence hall singular
residence halls plural

Morphology

residence + hall

The meaning 'a building on a college campus where students live' is directly derivable from 'residence' (a place where someone lives) combined with 'hall' (a building or large room); a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer this refers to a building for living. This noun–noun composition is common cross‑linguistically (e.g., equivalents like 'student residence') and follows normal English compounding, so it is transparently compositional.

Etymology

The name residence hall comes from the simple idea that residence means 'a place to live' and hall means 'a large house or building'. So a residence hall is 'a building on a college or university campus where students live together'.