Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or appropriate for a locker room: Describes something that is characteristic of the informal, often all-male, atmosphere of a sports team's changing area, typically involving crude, vulgar, or sexually explicit humor, conversation, or behavior.

Usage

• The adjective "locker-room" is used attributively, meaning it almost always comes directly before a noun to describe it (e.g., , ). It is almost exclusively used in this hyphenated form when functioning as an adjective.
• It carries a connotation of being coarse, boastful, or unrefined, and is often used to excuse or characterize offensive remarks by suggesting they were meant only for a private, male-dominated setting.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The comedian was known for his locker-room jokes, which some found offensive.
  • He dismissed the crude comments as just locker-room banter among teammates.
  • The film captures the locker-room camaraderie of the championship team.

Advanced Usage

• "Locker-room talk": A fixed phrase referring specifically to the type of vulgar, sexually explicit, or boastful conversation stereotypically associated with men in a locker room.
  • The recording revealed a conversation full of offensive locker-room talk.

Variants and Related Words

• Locker room (noun phrase): The actual room containing lockers, especially in a gym, sports facility, or workplace, where people can change clothes and store belongings.
  • The team met in the locker room for a pep talk before the game.

Synonyms

• Crude: Lacking refinement or grace; in a natural or raw state.
• Vulgar: Lacking sophistication or good taste; unrefined.
• Bawdy: Humorously coarse and indecent.

Notes on Meaning

• The term often implies a context that is exclusively or predominantly male. While "locker room" as a noun is a neutral location, the hyphenated adjective "locker-room" has developed a specific, and often negative, cultural meaning related to misogynistic or objectifying speech and behavior.
• Its use can be controversial, as it is sometimes employed to normalize or minimize language that others find degrading or harassing.

Adjective

1. relating to or appropriate for a locker room
   • locker-room humor