laundromat

American

[lawn-druh-mat, lahn-] / ˈlɔn drəˌmæt, ˈlɑn- /

noun

a self-service laundry having coin-operated washers, driers, etc.; launderette.

Laundromat British

/ ˈlɔːndrəˌmæt /

noun

Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): Launderette. laundrette. a commercial establishment where clothes can be washed and dried, using coin-operated machines

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of laundromat

First recorded in 1940–45; formerly a trademark, originally a brand of washer

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When Nashville-area chef Julia Sullivan was looking to open her second restaurant, she chose an abandoned laundromat from 1950 on the outskirts of Sewanee in rural Tennessee.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Have you ever seen a ‘Going Out of Business’ sign on a coin-operated laundromat?

From The Wall Street Journal

So then the Herdmans weren’t allowed in the post office or the Sunoco station, and they got thrown out of the new Laundromat the very day it opened.

From Literature

It skittered around all over the tops of the machines and clawed through everybody’s laundry baskets, and knocked over boxes of soap and bottles of bleach and a big basket of flowers that said “Good Luck to the Laundromat.”

From Literature

Of course the Laundromat was a mess and all the customers were mad and couldn’t find their clothes and wanted their money back for the stuff the cat had spilled.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023