laboratory
noun
Simple meaning
A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
labruhtoreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlæbrəˌtɔːri
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A workplace for the conduct of scientific research
A room, building or institution equipped for scientific research, experimentation or analysis.
A place where chemicals, drugs or microbes are prepared or manufactured.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A workplace for the conduct of scientific research
Used this way, laboratory is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in science and academic writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use laboratory
- “Scientists conducted experiments in the new research laboratory.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Workplace / room
Place
Other combinations
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A workbench in a laboratory.
A light coat worn to protect clothing from substances used while working in a laboratory.
A laboratory for biological research.
A laboratory for research in chemistry.
A laboratory devoted to research and development for national defense.
A defense laboratory that provides essential services in fundamental science for national security and environmental protection and provides technologies that contribute to industrial…
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- labnoun
- experimentnoun
- clinicaladjective
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.