adult in the room
adult in the room noun: someone, especially a senior member of staff, who counteracts impulsive or reckless behavior.
Noun
adult in the room (plural adults in the room)
- Someone, especially a senior member of staff, who counteracts impulsive or reckless behavior.
- “Keep in mind, these guys were the adults in the room in the first Trump administration keeping Trump from going full dictator,” said [Michael] Kosta. “And they’re not going to be there the second time around.[…]”2024 October 24, Michael Kosta, quotee, “Seth Meyers on Trump: ‘A ridiculous buffoon and an incredibly dangerous menace’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2025
- China Is the Adult in the Room on Climate Now [title]2025 September 26, Li Shuo, “China Is the Adult in the Room on Climate Now”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2025
Forms of adult in the room
| plural | adults in the room |
|---|
Questions about adult in the room
- What does adult in the room mean?
- Adult in the room means someone, especially a senior member of staff, who counteracts impulsive or reckless behavior.
- What part of speech is adult in the room?
- Adult in the room is a noun.
- What is the plural of adult in the room?
- The plural of adult in the room is adults in the room.
Words near adult in the room in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: adult in the room (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “adult in the room.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/adult_in_the_room. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.