What does "roost" mean?
The place where a bird sleeps (usually its nest or a branch).
Roost
/ɹust/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The place where a bird sleeps (usually its nest or a branch).
- Grammar: roost is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: abide, accommodate, accommodations, alight.
- Useful contrasts: depart, disperse, evict.
- Usage evidence: Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.
How to use "roost"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "roost" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "roost" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "roost" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "roost" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "roost" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abide" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "roost", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The place where a bird sleeps (usually its nest or a branch).
"He clapp'd his wings upon his roost."
- 2 Alternative form of roust (“strong tide or current”). Orkney, Shetland, alt-of, alternative
"Sometimes the whole tract swung to one side, like the tail of a live serpent; sometimes, for a glimpse, it would all disappear and then boil up again. What it was I had no guess, which for the time increased my fear of it; but I now know it must have been the roost or tide race, which had carried me away so fast and tumbled me about so cruelly, and at last, as if tired of that play, had flung out me and the spare yard upon its landward margin."
- 3 a perch on which domestic fowl rest or sleep wordnet
- 4 A group of birds roosting together.
- 5 a shelter with perches for fowl or other birds wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 A bedroom.
- 7 The open cross-joists or inner roof of a cottage or living space. Scotland
- 8 A kick which causes the ball to travel a long distance.
- 9 Synonym of perch (“a position that is secure and advantageous”).
Verb
- 1 To settle on a perch in order to sleep or rest. intransitive
- 2 Alternative form of roust. alt-of, alternative
- 3 settle down or stay, as if on a roost wordnet
- 4 To spend the night. figuratively
"The UPS package centre for central London, a brief walk from Kentish Town tube station, holds a below-ground bay in which 170 vans roost every night."
- 5 sit, as on a branch wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To kick (a ball) a long distance. transitive
Example
"Curses, like chickens, come home to roost."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "roost"?
Common synonyms include: abide, accommodate, accommodations, alight, anchor, aviary.
How do you use "roost" in a sentence?
Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.
How do you pronounce "roost"?
Pronounced /ɹust/.
Etymology
From Middle English roste (“chicken's roost; perch”), from Old English hrōst (“wooden framework of a roof; roost”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrōst, from Proto-Germanic *hrōstaz (“wooden framework; grill”); see *raustijan. Cognate with Dutch roest (“roost”), German Low German Rust (“roost”), German Rost (“grate; gridiron; grill”).